BMA Mag 367 Mar 16 2011

www.bmamag.com

Sparkadia The vital spark

One Man Lord of the Rings Get your ring on!

#367 MAR16

The Ectlilvies Colnldes launch debut

Local lege

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The Monotremes and Fun Machine at Pot Belly Bar

Where are you?

YOU ARE STILL HERE! # 3 6 7 M A R 1 6 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 Julia Winterflood E: editorial@bmamag.com Film Editor Melissa Wellham Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman NEXT ISSUE 368 OUT MARCH 30 EDITORIAL DEADLINE MARCH 21 ADVERTISING DEADLINE MARCH 24 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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Fun Machine is a thinly-veiled excuse to yell quasi-enlightened things at people, experiment with the wardrobes of mothers and brothers, and get free bottled water from pubs. For others though, Fun Machine has become that excuse to escape the dullness that infects nightlife and get sweaty by burning through your best shoes, learning that there need be nothing furtive about a smile.

The Monotremes’ schizophrenic yet accessible and infectious tunes have been described as “edgy, unpredictable and immensely satisfying”. Primarily they will entertain, secondarily, they may baffle; and tertiarily, they will come up with shitty adverbs. Come indulge in the joy of this double bill on Wednesday March 23 from 8pm. It’s free, it’s on a night when you’re not doing anything else, it’s local, it’s good, etc.

Six Billion Love You Are Here presents the sell out show from The National Multicultural Festival Fringe 2009. The number 6,677,563,921 ticks forwards and backwards everyday with births and deaths on the planet occurring even as you read this. We are one of six billion and something people; your presence is noted on the world population counter but what makes you so special?

What can you give? Six Billion Love is intimate physical theatre performed by members of Canberra Youth Theatre, conceived by Pip Buining and created by multi award winning director Chenoeh Miller of Little Dove Theatre Art. It’s on Friday-Saturday March 18-19 at The Bally in City Walk, in front of the Merry-Go-Round.

Mikelangelo and The Tin Star at The Phoenix Mikelangelo and the Tin Star have just returned from the Amanda Palmer Goes Down

Under Tour. In a stack of sell-out shows, from Fremantle to Byron Bay to Melbourne, The Tin Star opened the evenings’ proceedings with their own brand of surf ‘n’ western tunes, then dropped in behind Amanda to become her band. Sadly the Canberra leg missed out on The Tin Star, however you can catch them at The Phoenix on Sunday April 3, where for the first time ever there will be a cover charge, so book at the bar to avoid missing out. Joining them will be the go-go dancing Saint Clare, and recently returned from his last tour of Afghanistan Fred Smith. Tix are $20/$15.

Jason Webley at The Front Described by the Seattle Times as “one of Seattle’s most talented musicians”, Webley is known for his gravely voice and battered porkpie hat that dances as he stomps and pumps the bellows of his instrument.

His relentless touring and legendary performances have built him a loyal following across North America and Europe. Webley was last in Oz supporting The Dresden Dolls on their ‘06 tour, and worked the crowds into a frenzy with his apocalyptic dirges and drinking songs. He’s performing at The Front on Thursday March 17, supported by Canberra’s favourite silverfish collector Drew Walky and the frantic screechings of Jacinta, Canberra’s premier conceptual transsexual. $10, 8pm.

Leadfinger at The Basement Leadfinger, Wollongong’s greatest export since Wayne

Gardner, are playing their first ever gig in the ACT at The Basement on Thursday March 17 with Sydney outfit The Prehistorics and locals Johnny Roadkill. Leadfinger have a timeless rock ‘n’ roll sound and write rip-snorting songs that sit them comfortably in the same stinky bandroom as such luminaries as The Replacements, The Black Keys, Wilco, Sloan, and You Am I.

Looking Glass at The Basement Über loud doom-rockers Looking Glass join Sydney’s Battle Pope and locals Neanderthug for a show at The Basement on Saturday March 26. Battle Pope features members of Ebolie, Kill A Celebrity and Squid. These four sexual tyrannosaurs play a sensual blend of swing, grind, funk, sludge and punk – citing influences like Captain Cleanoff, Weedeater, Municipal Waste, and Little Richard. $10 on the door, 8.30pm.

Graveyard Train When a bunch of bearded fellas get together and bash out slightly macabre tunes on acoustic guitars and 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. myspace.com/ graveyardtrain3051 .

Graveyard Train

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YOU PISSED ME OFF!

FROM THE BOSSMAN Meal times are a sacred and important occasion. Atop a steaming plate of culinary delight many a romance has been sparked, many a business deal struck, and many a peal of laughter enjoyed. Food with friends is usually a wonderful cause for celebration and mirth, a time to relax, unwind and recharge and a much looked forward to highlight in many people’s day.

However, as with many things in my life, they are sometimes cause to send me into a paroxysm of panic.

“What could possibly cause panic during humble meal time, you infernal ape?” I hear you bellow at the page. Well settle down and I’ll tell you.

Y’see, I have been blessed/cursed with an astronomically tiny stomach. While this has proved vital in keeping my taught and trim figure (despite having the kind of drinking habit that makes Charlie Sheen look like Larry Lightweight) this can prove problematic come the grand social occasion of meal time. Again, I can see you there, scrunching up an aluminium can in frustration like it was a piece of tissue and chorusing “If you can’t finish the damn meal, just leave it, you infuriating git!”

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 collective of cheap, tacky clothing stores dressing Australian teenagers, you piss me off. You are solely responsible for making undeveloped girls look like they just stepped off the set of a porno. Seeing a 12 year old child sporting a midriff printed with ‘Miss Kick-Arse’ and the American flag makes me want to test out their shirt slogan with a hard slap to the face and, as for the muttons dressed as lambs who are like a weathered, old moth to your offensive pink lights, if I see another overweight arse in ‘jeggings’ I will – mark my words – wedgie them. The creators should dress themselves in the synthetic trash they’re trading and go stand too close to a fire.

- Yours, the Fashion Police

Well yes, this may be the case for most right thinking people, but my thoroughly wonderful mother instilled into me from a very early age the importance of not wasting food (the “think of the starving children in Africa” mantra was wheeled out on any occasion I dared to cast a piece of food aside uneaten). And so, it is with near blind panic that I attempt to finish everything on my plate, such is my undying love for my dear Mama. This is fine when serving out your own food, but when at a restaurant or pub (especially ones where the idea of a burger is lumping half a cow between a bun) the panic kicks in. Because I’m not some limp-wristed leaf munching Earth Child, dammit, I want meat. I just don’t want all of it.

As well as a desire to adhere to my dear Mama’s sage-like humanitarian advice, I am always riddled with deep-set guilt when the hired help come to take my offending plate away. For me, a piece of leftover food on a white plate is like a glistening pimple of humiliation, stoutly mocking my puny appetite.

The worst of it is imagining a trembling little Luigi-style chef character in the kitchen, staring at my unfinished meal, his eyes glassing over and his bottom lip swelling in size, trembling ever more violently as he blubs, “He… He no like it? But I slave! I slave for a so long using Mama’s recipe! That’s it. I quit. There is nothing for me here any more…” before shooting himself, spraying his brains all over the bolognese.

So strong is the case of my unnecessary unease and general catastrophic sensitivity to such matters that when the inevitable time comes at the end of our feasting – with belly bursting and meal far from finished – I indulge in the sad practice of placing my napkin over the offending food with the same sombre pall of a person drawing a blanket over a corpse. Except in my case, the death is of my macho dignity.

There are tactics for keeping my fictional Luigi – my self-created symbolic character of culinary patheticness – in the land of the living. Bringing along a person in possession of a proper appetite to finish what you can’t works. Like a food wingman. My brother is a veritable human waste disposal, and for that I love him.

So should we ever find ourselves in the position of breaking bread together, please ensure my meal is small, and my napkin large. And bring your appetite.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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another thing…

Here we go again indeed. Despite his increasingly addled mien and always confused look, Bobby Shrubbs is still the boss. Many people who know or come into contact with us believe that I am actually his manager (I’m not. That particular honour goes to a man, Wayne Smith, who is almost more childlike in character than our hero – and he doesn’t have 30 years of not being able to say ‘no’ as his excuse.

Or at least ‘no’ to some things, anyway), and am in a position to tell him what to do, but that’s not the case. I’m just the hired hand, and, although I’m the hired hand who seems to actually also be a wetnurse, butler, chauffeur, sometimes confidante and bodyguard all rolled into one, that is still all I am.

I often wonder how I got the job. Actually, I know how I got the job.

What I wonder about is why I said yes. I was working in Wayne Smith’s office, in charge of this and that, and one day, in one of those alignment of planets moments, everything seemed to go tits up at once. Wayne, an excitable man of about 40 who couldn’t keep it in his trousers, had started having it away with a 19-year-old Croatian girl he’d met at the merchandise stall during a gig by one of the bands he managed. There was not a lot new here – I’d only worked for him for about a year and I knew of at least three separate occasions when this happened. But this girl, Ana, had had a curious effect on him. She needed a visa to stay in the country and Wayne had offered Pikey Dan (the young work experience boy who came for a week and stayed, despite never being paid a cent for his efforts) a four figure sum to engage in a sham marriage to keep her in England. Amazingly, the Pike turned him down and so, on the day in question, I get a phone call from a more frantic than usual Wayne who, it appears, is at Heathrow with Ana. He’d left the wife.

“I’ve left the wife, Micky, I’m going to Croatia to meet Ana’s parents and tell them everything’s going to be okay. I need you to take charge of things for me while I’m away. There’s an envelope in my desk for you. I’m counting on you ma-” Silence. When I got into Wayne’s office I noted he’d left in such a hurry he’d left his mobile there, on the desk. So he must have been calling me on a payphone, hence the abrupt end to our little chat.

I looked in the top drawer of the desk and found an A4 envelope smeared with what I hoped was peanut butter marked ‘MICKY’. I looked inside and found a set of keys and a crumpled bit of paper covered in Wayne’s puerile scrawl. The keys were for a flat on the Edgeware Road that Wayne and Ana had been using as a secret lovenest. The instructions told me to ‘flog the place and send me the cash to Zagreb. And don’t tell Rhona. And look after Bobby.’

I placed the keys in my pocket with the bit of paper just as Rhona, Wayne’s long suffering wife crashed through the front door of the office, shouting at the top of her not inconsiderable voice.

“He’s done it this time Micky, he’s really done it this time. That stupid prick has run off with another of his dirty little slags. Did you know about this?”

More from Mick and Bobby next time... scott adams - thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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WHO: Kora, CW Stoneking, Space Invadas and more WHAT: The Gum Ball Festival WHEN: Sat-Sun April 29-30 WHERE: Belford, Hunter Valley

The Gum Ball Festival runs from Saturday-Sunday April 29-30 and is located in the beautiful forests of Belford in the Hunter Valley, just six hours drive from Canberra. 22 bands are on the stellar line-up, including Kora (NZ), CW Stoneking and his Primitive Horns, The Vasco Era, The Bamboos, Space Invadas, Lanie Lane and a massive swag more. Gum Ball offers onsite camping, BYO, market stalls, Silent Disco, kiddies mega playground and workshops, big warm fires and a cosy capacity of 1,500. Nice! Tickets are $130 and are available from the festival website and Oztix. Teenager/family concessions are also available. For more information head to www.thegumball.com.au .

WHO: TaikOz WHAT: Australia’s leading taiko drumming ensemble WHEN: Workshop Fri March 25, performance Sat March 26 WHERE: The Playhouse, Canberra

Australia’s leading taiko drumming ensemble captures the elemental qualities of our most beloved natural icon – the beach – in its production Shifting Sand, which showcases the ability of TaikOz to perform music across the spectrum, from the ethereal to the thunderous, as well as the ever-changing nature of the beach; calm one moment, furiously pounding the next. “Shifting Sand is a performance piece more than a concert. It is a journey through the various moods, light and sounds we experience when visiting the beach,” composer and TaikOz member Graham Hilgendorf says. Head to canberratheatrecentre.com.au for all the info.

WHO: Real food a music lovers WHAT: Acoustic Soup WHEN: Every 3rd Wed of the month, starting wed March 16 WHERE: ANU Food Co-Op

Acoustic Soup is a fundraiser for the ANU Food Co-op which gives people an opportunity to eat delicious, cheap, organic and local food that supports regional farmers and local musicians. This year it’s coordinated by Real Food Canberra (www.realfoodcanberra.org), an organisation trying to encourage people to think about what they eat. ‘Real food’ is ethically produced, environmentally sustainable and most of all nutritious and tasty. The first line-up for ’11 features Gemma Nourse, Dave Crosby, Michael Bones and Campbell Diamond, James Fahy and more. If you’d like to volunteer or if you’re a muso and want to play, contact Hannah at u4678126@anu .

WHO: RuCL (Melb) WHAT: Reggae/hip-hop/ dancehall vibes WHEN: Sat March 26 WHERE: Transit Bar

What better way to send off summer than a night of bass heavy reggae and hiphop, as Capital Dub returns to Transit Bar with Melbourne based, Jamaican Australian RuC.L. Backed by DJ perplex he will drop a set of his signature blend of old school hip-hop, reggae tunes and up tempo dancehall beats. RuCL’s skills and musical background are evident in his diverse lyrical styles, moving effortlessly between rugged hip-hop vocals, Jamaican dancehall, and soulful R&B. Supported by The Rock Steady,a local crew of DJs, musos and MCs who play funk, soul, reggae with live percussion. Come check it!

WHO: Attila the Stockbroker WHAT: Punk performance poet WHEN: Wed March 30 WHERE: The Phoenix

“I’m Attila the Stockbroker, punk performance poet and songwriter from Brighton, England, inspired by The Clash and Monty Python, and I’m on my fourth Australian tour celebrating 30 years earning a living as a poet. Some of you may remember me from ‘90s gigs with Weddings Parties Anything, Mick Thomas and Roaring Jack, and maybe from sessions on triple j and bits of national TV doing a rude poem about Bronwyn Bishop. This time I’m doing most of my shows with the brilliant Go Set, which is absolutely logical. You can check me out at reverbnation.com/ attilathestockbroker .”

WHO: Canberra Roller Derby League WHAT: Skate Fatale WHEN: Sat March 19 WHERE: AIS Arena

Ooooooo Lordy! The Roller Derby Skate Fatale is on! This time our local heroes the Vice City Rollers will be taking on those scurrilous sirens of scintillation, the Victorian Roller Derby League All Stars. The Vic Vipers are the current National Champions, so be prepared for a high-octane rock ‘em sock ‘em affair. With the VRDL All Stars attempting to give our gals the blue kiss of death, we’ll be sure to meet their pucker with a sucker punch. There will be blood! Tix through Ticketek. canberrarollerderbyleague.com .

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s i l l E e h T ctive e l l o C 14

y r a s s e c e N s n a e M y n

By A BMA’s NICOLA MENSER HEARN caught up with Matty Ellis of The Ellis Collective to discuss the band’s soon to be launched debut Means What It Means.

BMA: Your soon to be released (and eagerly anticipated) album Means What It Means has been a few years in the making. Is this album the end of a season for your creative career, or the beginning of something new?

Matty Ellis (ME): The album is definitely the end of something – there will be some closure in its release. The opening track, 1997, is named after the year I wrote it. For over a decade I’ve held onto these songs like a fucked up Catholic girl and her musical virginity hoping and waiting that the right people would come along and help me make it. I am forever grateful I didn’t rush the album as it led me to this amazing band and an incredible experience recording to analogue tape at Infidel Studios.

BMA: Why was the track Means What It Means chosen as the figurehead of the album?

ME: If I had to showcase our sound to a stranger with one song – this is it. This is the only track where everyone in the band has a chance to really cut loose. It features layered harmonies, an amazing string arrangement, relentless bass lines and snare chops, a vicious violin solo and a shredding final verse. Add some cranky lyrics and that’s The Ellis Collective to a tee.

BMA: Canberrans have been watching you perform on our stages and in our backyards for years. But for how long have you been writing music?

ME: I started playing the violin at five. Not a hugely popular instrument in West Queanbeyan at the time. I started dabbling in songwriting when I was 17, but was es ienc aud Canberra hugely influenced y The are beautiful. by the time I spent working at the old embrace the music, Gypsy Bar in the ne’ sce ‘the not late ‘90s. In my time there, I learnt a lot watching young artists like George, John Butler and Jeff Lang starting out.

BMA: How and when was The Collective born?

ME: I have always been a pretty average guitarist, so I spent years looking for a band. After a string of awkward jams and failed auditions, I gave up on the band idea and started playing solo. As soon as I stopped looking for a band, it arrived. A year later after a series of bizarre coincidences, we suddenly had this wonderful band. The combination stuck and we’ve been mates ever since.

BMA: Your songs seem very personal and are often emotionally charged. What is the inspiration for your songwriting process? Do you think you need to be sad to write a good song?

ME: Every songwriter is different, but I often compare my own songwriting process to dreaming. You can’t really explain it, but in its own strange way it clears out the clutter in your soul.

I don’t keep songs based on how musically strong they are or how much people like them. I only keep songs if they have a deep cathartic effect on me. I don’t find that this means I have to be happy or sad to write a song – there just needs to be something that’s strong enough to fight its way out from inside of me.

BMA: How much do you feel emotional health is wrapped up in the artistic process? Is artistic expression reflective of health, or rather, is it healing?

See above on this one.

ME: What is the significance of recurring images, such as beer and cigarettes, or carvings/scratchings, within the album?

This album is a chronology of important moments that have changed me in some way. For good or for bad, I’m marked by what I was walking through or who I was walking with at the time. Some of these scratches heal with time and others are a little more indelibly carved into who I am. As for drinking and smoking, I think they’re the hallmark signs of a destructive self pity so they often seem to sneak themselves into my songs.

BMA: As a band, are songs ever written collaboratively?

ME: The Ellis Collective has a two stage collaborative approach.

Even though I wrote most of the album before I met the band, they transformed my tunes with such amazing and sensitive arrangements. There’s also an indirect collaboration. Working with such an extraordinary group of musicians for so long has dramatically changed my songwriting. The band’s influence is amazing – while I write them, you’ll see their fingerprints are all over the songs on the next album.

BMA: The local Canberra music scene is rich in diversity and also contains a lot of cross-genre collaboration. Do you think that this tendency for collaboration has created a uniquely ‘Canberran’ sound?

ME: I think that strong collaboration has certainly led to shared musical ideals and standards amongst Canberra bands. For us, and I think generally within our genre, this is characterised by avoiding over-production with a greater focus on capturing genuine musical performances. It’s a very honest approach to recording.

BMA: What do you see as the future of Canberra’s local music scene?

ME: Across all genres, Canberra bands are some of the best in the country. I think this will continue. Canberra audiences are beautiful. They embrace the music, not ‘the scene’ and I think this makes them less fickle compared to audiences in larger cities. I think this will continue. Bands seeking a national or international profile will continue to find leaving Canberra an attractive option.

In the future, you may not be able to stop bands leaving Canberra, but you’ll also never stop good music being made here.

The Ellis Collective will be launching their album Means What It Means at The Street Theatre on Saturday March 26. Support will be provided by Mikelangelo, Vorn Doolette and Tom Woodward. Tickets are $33 and can be purchased via the venue’s website.

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ALL AGES Saturday March 19 is Canberra’s 104.7 Skyfire, one of our city’s biggest annual community events. You can enjoy an array of entertainment including aerial displays over the lake, a free performance by Jessica Mauboy at the Regatta Point stage, delightful food stalls and so much more. But let us not forget the grand finale, when Lake Burley Griffin is lit up by the biggest and most expensive fireworks display in the history of Skyfire. This is a free community event, and having just celebrated our city’s 98th birthday there is no better time for it than this. So, get a picnic rug, gather all of your friends and family, pack some nibblies and sit back, relax and enjoy one of the biggest events of the year. But be

sure to arrive early, so as to pick a prime viewing spot. This event is a great opportunity to take advantage of the warmer autumn weather, for soon the Canberra cold will be upon us all.

There is no denying that everybody needs a little bit of comedic entertainment every once in a while. Charles Ross, who brought to the world the hilarious hit One Man Star Wars Trilogy, will bring to The Canberra Theatre his new follow up act, One Man Lord of the Rings.

The show has gained nothing but excellent reviews and is bound to leave you with aching cheekbones and laughter-induced muscular aches. Adult tickets cost $57 (+ bf) and concession costs $48 (+ bf) through Canberra Ticketing. With no props and no costumes, Ross will re-enact the entire Tolkien trilogy. He is playing two shows on Saturday March 19, one at 3pm and one at 7.30pm.

On Friday March 25, It’s a Box Social marks the end of an era for local pop-mosh/alternative five-piece Steady the Fall. This will be the final show played by guitarist Alex as well as the band’s final show as Steady the Fall. The show at the Woden Youth Centre will also feature Canberran supporting acts West of the Sun, Little Saturn, Dr. Johnson and Psychic Asylum. Tickets can be bought at the door from 6pm for $5. This is your final chance to see the boys on stage before they re-emerge as an entirely new band, so get out there and support a successful transition for a band that have been ever so loyal to the all ages scene.

On the afternoon of Sunday April 3 nomadic Perth quad Miles Away will hit the nation’s capital with Brisbane’s Fires of Waco and Defeater all the way from Boston, USA on their Australia and New Zealand tour. You can be a part of this spectacular night of pop-punk at Axis Youth Centre in Queanbeyan. Doors open at 2pm where tickets can be bought.

Specific prices have yet to be announced, although the Axis Youth Centre are anything but money grubbing. To experience these three great acts together is an opportunity that may never come around again, so take it!

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

A picture’s worth a thousand words at The Last Prom:

JULIA WINTERFLOOD - julia@bmamag.com PHOTOS BY COLE BENNETTS

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DANCE THE DROP

We all love a good parochial success story here in the Nation’s Capital. The closest we have come to a proper local celebrity in recent times is our loose claim as the origin for Formula One prodigy Mark Webber, but we all know deep down that he is originally from Queanbeyan. The ascendancy of The Aston Shuffle gives us hope; a hope that may give credibility to our city which, let’s face it, is rarely acknowledged as a paramour in national and international circles.

The boys are finally releasing their long awaited debut album entitled Seventeen Past Midnight on Friday April 15, including a swag of electronic hits like I Wanna See You, Your Love and Start Again. Buy it, play it, love it!

While German producers Franziskus Sell and Jakob Hildenbrand may not be household names to most dance music fans, their partnership as Format B has produced some of the most upfront techno music in recent memory. You can catch the duo performing an exclusive intimate show at Trinity Bar on Saturday March 19 presented by underground moguls Effigy. Supports for the night include Tim Heaney, SVRT, Radar, Gabriel Gilmour and Yohan Strauss, all for the bargain price of absolutely nothing!

A recent study found that 98% of girls aged 18-25 love bags and beefy arms. The ANU Bar has bulls-eyed its demographic with a special event on Friday March 18 featuring Australian pop/indie club rockers the Bag Raiders and Muscles. Tickets are selling fast, so if you are young and female, what are you waiting for?

Alliance never fail to provide punters with the best in commercial club weaponry and the next explosive shell in their arsenal is the Ministry of Sound Clubbers Guide tour featuring Sydney mash-up champion Tom Piper. This is sure to be another epic night in the old cinema, well worth your hard earned $18.50.

The emergence of exciting dubstep producers in 2010 resulted in some of the most cutting edge club music that the scene has ever produced. One of the wildcards in the industry is Californian native Bassnectar, famous for his high energy shows and mindblowing productions, all of which he is bringing to Trinity Bar on Friday March 25. Entry is only $25 on the door which includes an impressive roster of broken beat professionals including Buick, Shifty Business, Stunami, Faux Real, Miss Universe, DJ DFP, Ben Colin and Aeon.

I can’t close off this edition of The Drop without giving props to local duo Peking Duck, who after a long period of solid production work have just been signed to premier Australian electronic label Vicious Records (which is helmed by house music dons John Course and Andy Van). Their sophomore release is a remix of Butterbox – Cups, an absolutely storming electro monster. Why not check it out and download a copy from beatport.com and support your local talent?

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

myspace.com/pangnight

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DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY estelle gonzalez The ubiquitous Martin Novosel is a man of many hats; the sort of bloke who makes most people feel unaccomplished. Novosel, aka PhDJ of PURPLE SNEAKERS DJs, is a DJ/music producer/party architect/artist manager, as well as the owner and founder of Boundary Sounds, the company responsible for releasing records by Philadelphia Grand Jury and Sparkadia.

A BIT OF LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT HOLLY ORKIN What is LIGHTS! LIGHTS! LIGHTS!? Being a festival coordinator for the You Are Here Festival, you’d probably assume I know the answer to that question. You’d be wrong. I am merely a mortal, I can hardly comprehend the awesomeness of this event, so I decided to ask the Hon DJ Alistair to give me a better understanding of the mindboggling event.

As a young lad Novosel was living in London with a dream to release records but, he says, “because I wasn’t British I couldn’t start a company legally and I got this letter from the home company saying that ‘oh yeah, like, you can’t really do this legally, your visa’s about to expire, blah blah blah.’ So I was like ‘well okay, fuck that, I’m gonna go do it at home.’ So I started the club to be able to fund the release of records.” A dingy little pub in Sydney gave birth to what has now become an institution in the Australian clubbing scene, with Purple Sneakers parties now being held weekly in Sydney and Melbourne as well as the monthly Canberra bash.

“Lights! Lights! Lights! is a free performance by some amazing hiphop DJs and MCs, with the overriding awesome of having Garema Place turned into a block party for the night. You should come along because you have been watching television and seen video clips of communal gatherings in public places that look like everyone is going bananas with joy as funky fresh beats get laid down and a community gets both down Lights! Lights! and up in unison to music. You Lights! will should come along because the be a once in covers band at your local club a lifetime will be playing Copperhead opportunity for Road next week, but Lights!

Lights! Lights! will be a once awesome in a lifetime opportunity for awesome. You should come because you probably haven’t heard me play since last November, and what’s better than getting down to radcore in the chess pit?”

In June 2010 Novosel’s dream came true as the Purple Sneakers DJs managed to bottle the bacchanal of their Purple Sneakers party by releasing Volume One of their We Mix, You Dance series. In 2011 they present their massive follow up effort, the unambiguously named We Mix, You Dance Volume 2. “It’s two discs; disc one is called Can Dance and it’s like the party disc and it’s got stuff like The Drums, Mumford & Sons, Kele from Bloc Party, Art vs. Science… all that stuff. Kinda like the Hottest 100 kinda thing from last year. And then disc two is called Can’t Dance and that’s mixed by me [the other disc is mixed by Ben Lucid and M.I.T] and it’s got more cerebral stuff, less party, more stuff like The National, Active Child, Apache Beat, Maximum Balloon… I don’t know, just lots and lots and lots of stuff.”

But Alistair, I’m a pretty boring kind of human; I prefer cheese and tea and quiet evenings, will my needs be attended to? “You know, I don’t drink tea (caffeine allergy), but always loved Darjeeling when I was a kid... This totally isn’t some herbal tea tip... leave your chamomile for when you get home... leave your anti-oxidants for the morning after. This is more of a fizzy drink type of celebration. Cool lemonade. Lemon squash. If you are rocking hot drinks at a block party, you are doing it wrong. But cheese we can do, a massive wheel of some triple cream Tasmanian soft cheese... Luxurious, tasty, rich, satisfactory with every morsel... and the longer you leave it out, the more it goes off.”

I’m educating them with the music that’s going to be entertaining them tomorrow

But despite being the self-confessed chin stroker of the trio PhDJ understands that at the end of the day people come to party. “I don’t think that being ahead of anyone else is the game, it’s about just playing good, fresh, new music and it’s one part education and another part entertainment. If I’m educating the dancefloor today I’m educating them with the music that’s going to be entertaining them tomorrow.”

The guys are looking forward to catching up with everyone at Transit Bar when they check in there for the Canberra leg of the tour. “Transit Bar’s awesome, I love that place. I mean obviously we do a monthly there anyway but the Purple Sneakers DJs don’t really get out there ‘cause we’re always touring, so we’re coming out on the 25th and finally get to party with all those peeps who we always communicate with.”

Catch the Purple Sneakers DJs live at Transit Bar on Friday March 25. Entry is free.

Well I’m pretty excited – are you excited? What are you excited about? “I love love love playing to Canberrans. Canberrans actually dance. It’s really refreshing compared to the usual Sydney thing of people turning up to say they were there and stand as still as possible no matter how amazing the performance of the person on stage. It’s as though its uncouth to show that music is moving you...

In Canberra, there aren’t the same hang ups amongst the audience, and as a performer, it’s so much easier to feed off, and as a person in the crowd, so much more enjoyable to be part of.”

You’ve convinced me. I’ll listen to the music that the ‘kids’ like, I will throw my tea down the drain for an evening and dance ‘til morning.

I encourage you all do do the same.

Lights! Lights! Lights! will take place at the Chess Pit in Garema Place from 10pm on Friday March 18. Entry is free.

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LET’S GET LOST ben hermann It was 1991, in the proudly urban yet urbane surrounds of Balmain High School that Flickerfest made its entry into Australia’s short film festival scene. In the past 20 years, it has grown steadily to become Australia’s only competitive international short film festival, renowned globally as one of the main festivals on the world circuit; indeed, in the past ten years it has gained accredited status from both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

affinity in that sense, just hanging out with other storytellers. The glitz and glamour – the excessive, almost religious glorification of what is often modest and sincere work – is a whole other separate thing, largely imposed by another publicity industry.”

The Lost Thing follows a boy who, in a quasi-dystopian Australian future, discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at the beach. Noticing that it is lost, but also that others either don’t see it, are indifferent to it, or are unwilling to take notice of it, the boy takes it under his care, determined to find a home for it.

It’s a rather appropriate credit to the quality of the festival’s entries then that in the midst of celebrating its 20th anniversary (2011’s festival was held in Sydney in January, and is currently touring, arriving in Canberra later this month), one of this year’s features – The Lost Thing by Andrew Ruhemann and the nationally beloved SHAUN TAN – picked up the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Originally published in 2000, Sophie Byrne (producer) and Ruhemann (co-director) first approached Tan in 2001, eventually convincing him that the book could be adapted in a way that gave justice to the identity of the book. Tan admits that after the film adaptation of The Lost Thing, the film potential of a book or illustration “will, I’m sure, be in the back of my mind now whenever I pick up a pencil,” and that his “film-making experience offers a broader conceptual palette, should the right ideas come along.”

Tan, an author and illustrator with a strong background in science fiction, best known for his award-winning children’s books The Red Tree, The Arrival and of course The Lost Thing is not the type you can readily imagine gracing the stage of the Oscars. Yet Tan, imbued with the childlike curiosity and playfulness that has endeared his books to children and adults alike, used his trip to Grauman’s Chinese Theater to “investigate another world”, as he described it.

It is unlikely, however, that his catalogue of work to now will be prone to adaptation. “Some would work and others would not,” he says. “Or to be more precise, you could adapt all of them, but in many cases it would require a radical revision of the narrative, because my storytelling style is actually quite slow, subtle, non-dramatic and makes great use of silence and stillness – qualities not so ideal in the medium of film.

“I have to say that I did not find the Academy itself to be a detached institution, but actually very friendly, open and inviting – there was a good spirit behind all of their events, including the Oscars,” he says.

“Even The Lost Thing, although one of my more conventional narratives, presented many problems because qualities of slowness, disengagement and apathy are actually essential themes of the story.

“I got the sense that people in that industry generally enjoy their work, and were there to celebrate a passion… so our team felt a strong

Continued on page 22.

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let’s get lost CONTINUED “Yet it still has to be entertaining for a sustained 15 minute period; it was a real balancing act.”

Much of Tan’s work, and particularly those mentioned above, have become infamous for their ability to be, at least notionally, children’s books, yet still appeal equally to adult audiences.

Tan’s work often addresses deep, complex subject matters such as alienation, anxiety and depression, yet through their playfulness and the characters’ sense of wonder, convey an uplifting sense of discovery and hope.

“I think if I did not practice anything artistic on a regular basis then yes, it would be very difficult to tap into that thread [of innocence and playfulness] which runs all the way back to early childhood. I think any kind of art, music, writing etc, either making it or engaging as an audience, is a great antidote to the apathy and pragmatism that can afflict the world of adult worries and responsibilities.

More importantly, it makes a bridge between adult experience and childhood innocence – the intersection of both is, for me, the ideal state of being, to examine mature wisdom in a playful way.”

Shortly after winning his Academy Award, Tan was asked why Australia often performed particularly well in the short film categories, to which he responded that Australia doesn’t have an “existing tradition” in these areas. The reason as well, it might be, that festivals such as Flickerfest have attracted the passion and creativity to flourish so greatly.

“I think we will probably maintain a pretty diverse outlook, that seems to be a part of the Australian spirit – helped along by a long history of multiculturalism, by which I mean the influx of ideas as well as people,” he says. “There is also a very personal, modest ‘backyard’ experimentation to a lot of Australian creative work, which seems to resist stylistic standardisation of the kind you see in the US, Britain and Europe, where I feel there are more recognisable national styles.

I even think The Lost Thing expresses some of this thematically in its own subtle way – that we antipodeans, washed up on a distant shore, are rather hard to categorise! I hope it stays that way.”

Flickerfest will screen at Dendy Cinema over Saturday-Sunday March 2627. Featured will be the Best of Australian Shorts and Best of International programs. For more information and tickets, visit www.dendy.com.au .

WHERE ARE YOU? PT. 2 David Finnigan Yo people!

So first of all, thanks so much to everyone who’s taken part in You Are Here so far. Because, man, I was not expecting this. I’ve been warning the artists and Festival Coordinators that they might just be performing for each other... Anyway, it turns out I was wrong. The response to the first four days of the program (I’m writing on Sunday March 13) has been huge: attendance numbers beyond our wildest predictions, and the audiences themselves are excited, switched on and engaged with the work they’re seeing.

I’m not trying to predict success for You Are Here prematurely, or suggest that this week will be the same as last week. I have no idea whether the second half of this program will work, whether people will enjoy or engage with it. ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN. All I’m saying is that the last few days have been exciting and they’ve got me excited about what’s to come. Which is what? What’s happening from now until You Are Here closes shop on Sunday March 20? Well, this: From Thursday, the Bally Circus Tent will be planted in front of the merry-go-round in Petrie Plaza. The Bally will host a range of events for You Are Here, including Canberra Dance Theatre’s showcase celebrating the Centenary of International Women’s Day, Canberra Youth Theatre’s physical theatre performance Six Billion Love and kids and adults circus shows by The Gadjo Family. The Gadjo Family will be on site in Petrie Plaza 24 hours a day, presenting performances for passersby at any hour of the day or night.

Over the same period, our visual arts hub The Mall will feature the ReLoved Creations Pop-Up Shop and an incendiary showcase of stand up by Comedy ACT at The Red Herring on Friday night. But truthfully, the thing I’m most hyped about is the theatre. Every evening, SmithDick is home to a double or triple bill of short theatre works by local and interstate artists, ranging from The Landlords’ savagely funny guide to extinction for the citizens of the drowning nation of Tuvalu in Bringing Some Gum To A Knife-Fight, to UK artist Phil Spencer’s autobiographical comedy Bluey, based on his experiences protesting the Iraq War at the same time as his father fought in it.

There’s a new selection of shows on at SmithDick every evening, and I reckon you should check your program and catch them all. I’m really excited to have this line-up of artists in the same city and on the same bill – I think if you’re at all interested in contemporary performance, you should take an hour out and experience a free sample. Oh, and everything’s free, by the way, if that tips your decision.

Hope you have a rad week no matter what you do, and thanks again for being the best.

You Are Here runs until Sunday March 20. Search online at youarehercanberra.com for more details.

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aspect of human behaviour. […] I’d love to make sculptural images to represent climate change, like a giant block of dark red ice, frozen in the shape of Uluru, left to melt in the desert just by Alice Springs – and a bunch of people sitting around in deckchairs watching it happen, letting off party poppers.

What are the challenges of working with ice? Ice is hard, cold (especially if you put it down your pants), the refrigeration process is expensive, ice-melt is dangerous. […] I wanted to build an igloo out of servo icebags, and have the igloo collapse over the course of the show – beautiful image, no? - but it would short out all the electrics in SmithDick, set the place on fire; that would be great for the show but quite bad for the audience and the festival and the venue. And the environment.

Q&A WITH TOM DOIG NAOMI MILTHORPE Selling Ice to the Remains of the Eskimos is a show about climate change. Are you an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to the future of the earth? In the future, the earth itself will be fine, but I am deeply pessimistic about anything trying to live on the surface of it. From all the books I’ve been reading, the future is likely to contain a hell of a lot of extinctions, leaving us with a much smaller variety of animals, and far fewer humans […]. Life will go on, but behind high walls with plenty of razor wire. Civilisation as we know it will be a baffling memory.

What are the aesthetic possibilities offered by climate change?

The aesthetic possibilities of climate change? Gosh, I’m used to thinking of the aesthetic challenges! Okay – the possibilities are almost endless, because the subject encompasses almost every

I saw your reading of Spalding Gray’s Swimming to Cambodia at Crack Theatre Festival last year, and this show is partly inspired by the same book. What is it about that work that is so fascinating? Swimming to Cambodia […] manages to move from the intensely personal, all the way across the spectrum to the big ‘P’ political, and back again, with astonishing dexterity and grace. […] Spalding manages to connect the personal and the political, he manages to find a personal lens through which we can see the almost unimaginable horrors of the Cambodian genocide.

Part of the problem with climate change is that it’s not personal (yet) – it’s too big, too slow, too far away, it’s not happening to us yet, it’s only happening to other people […]. So Swimming to Cambodia is a huge inspiration in terms of a successful example of breathing life, heart, immediacy into an otherwise abstract situation.

Selling Ice to the Remains of the Eskimos is playing as part of You Are Here Festival. Wed-Fri March 16-18. youareherecanberra.com.au. The full version of this interview can be read online at www.bmamag.com .

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ALL FIRED UP

OMG! LOTR!

Zoe Pleasants

adrian threadgould

How much do you love Skyfire? Do you eagerly hang out each year for those 20 minutes of fireworks bliss when the colourful crackers dance and explode over the lake, like showgirls from the Moulin Rouge, in perfect synchronicity with the cheesy hits of the FM104.7 soundtrack, filling the sky with their intensity, majesty and exuberance? And as the last glow of colour fades, the last spark drops to the ground and Lake Burley Griffin returns to darkness, do you find yourself still pumped with energy and wanting more?

Behold! That bespectacled archetype lurking in the darkest depths of our collective unconscious is logging on right now... Charlie Ross will be channelling his inner geek for Canberrans very soon! “I’m more of a member of the Nation of Nerds than the League of Thespians,” admits Ross, whose chaotic performances of ONE MAN LORD OF THE RINGS have wowed audiences across this liddle earth. Pardon.

I couldn’t help but share my own nerdish squint with Ross – it’s best to be honest. “Any true geek can tell the difference between a fellow dork and some actor pretending to be one… as much as I may poke fun at the films, I love them with all my geeky being. I make people laugh at me nerding out.”

Or are you one of those few Canberrans that just don’t quite get what all the Skyfire fuss is about? Maybe you enjoyed it when you were ten but just haven’t been able to recreate the magic since. Or you simply never got it but understand that this is too shameful, and frankly unCanberran, to admit to? Either way, this year, the folk from the You Are Here Festival are coming to the rescue with an event they’re calling FRIENDLYFIRE, CeaseFire, MisFire, SkyHigher, amongst other names.

Two of the event’s organisers, Reuben Ingall and Nick McCorriston (aka DJ Volume), admit that having multiple names for an event “makes branding difficult” but there is no such confusion about what FriendlyFire is about. “Think of it as either the seamless continuation of Skyfire, without the fireworks or the lake, or an exciting alternative,” they explain.

Describing their vision for FriendlyFire, Reuben and Nick go on to talk about “capturing the energy of Skyfire” (and the music) and using it to fuel a pumping dance party behind the merry-go-round in Petrie Plaza. “In previous years Skyfire has attracted up to 180,000 spectators – that’s a lot of Canberra excitement to harness into a party,” explains Reuben. So from 8.30pm till midnight on Skyfire night, local and interstate DJs including Dead DJ Joke, Black Samurai and DJ Volume will mix, remix, chop and add a bit of filler to the tunes from the Skyfire broadcast for you to let off your own dancing fireworks to.

Because, as Nick astutely points out, “30 minutes of Skyfire broadcast simply isn’t enough!”

So either drop by the merry-go-round after Skyfire and relive your memories again and again and again, or embrace FriendlyFire as your Skyfire alternative and discover a new way to appreciate this seminal Canberra event. Reuben and Nick promise that “FriendlyFire will have something for everybody.” And with cheesy hits, great DJs, amazing dancers and circus performers it certainly has all the ingredients for a great party. The fireworks may fade too soon but FriendlyFire will keep on going.

Let off your dancing fireworks at FriendlyFire, held from 8.30pm until midnight, behind the merry-go-round in Petrie Plaza on Saturday March 19.

Not seen Ross’s previous fun-sized incarnation One Man Star Wars Trilogy? Then google and be stunned. He almost busts a larynx morphing from Wookie to Star Destroyer in one flailing mess. Ross’ alacrity and dexterity as he condenses these famously epic stories with no props is astounding. How in Khazad-dûm does he do it? “I merely wrote a script from what I could recall off the top of my noggin. The logic being that whatever I could remember should (in theory) be what the average person could. I’m extremely OCD, and as such have no need for palm cards – that is, unless I become compulsive about palm cards for some reason. I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

Thankfully, Ross isn’t obsessed with the meticulous recreation of many life-long fantasies. “As for me making mistakes, I have to say that a show without mistakes is like a sauce without spice. What would be the point? The more ‘mistakes’ the more alive the show becomes.” The Dark One knows how he keeps up the pace for a whole hour, but he doesn’t have time to ensure no one walks away saying ‘it jushht washhn’t true to the booksh… mwa-hey, glavin!” Instead, you’re in stitches from his treasonous self mockery.

As much as I gawk at his elven-like prowess, it’s refreshing as lembas to hear Ross isn’t meritorious about his work. “It doesn’t take Yoda to figure out that my shows capitalise upon the success of established works. If I didn’t have these works to exploit, I’d still be somewhere in Canada, probably slinging coffee for a living. In a nutshell: I am one lucky man.”

And so are we, the Nation of Nerds and Realm of Men alike. If you’re still not convinced, or looking to level-up, why not try a drinking game during the show? Charlie’s tip – “How about every time Aragorn whispers a line? Or every time Samwise says ‘Frooodooo’?

Or alternatively, when Eomer looks pissed off, constipated, or a combination of both.”

See OMLOTR performed at The Playhouse on Saturday March 19. Tickets are $57 and are available from the Canberra Theatre Centre website.

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Nathalie doesn’t feel that singing in a different language affects her performances overseas, though. “When I play in France and sing in Creole, people don’t understand the language either, so being in a different country doesn’t make much difference,” she explained. “The reason why people enjoy my music isn’t just about understanding it, it’s about the sound of the music, and my voice, and how they get mixed together.” She has managed to find a way around the language barrier, however. “Before I start a song, I give a summary of the story of the lyrics, so people know what it’s about.”

This is what makes Nathalie’s shows part gig, part theatre in a way, as the audience is invited into her stories and inspirations, and are then able to see them come to life through music.

CREOLE CREATIONS zoya patel NATHALIE NATIEMBE is not your run of the mill musician – the African singer/songwriter creates a blend of rock, funk and traditional music from her home country, La Reunion (a French island located in the Indian Ocean, with a large African population), that defies genre and language boundaries. Arriving on our shores for the WOMAdelaide festival last week, Nathalie had been busy preparing for the trip. When I spoke to her, she was organising her luggage for the journey. “I’m in La Reunion, packing and getting ready,” she told me. “I’m flying out on Thursday, and I’m still finishing my costumes for the stage!” Nathalie’s performances are full of colour and vibrancy, influenced heavily by her culture and the traditional music of her people. A large part of that is the language she uses – most of Nathalie’s songs are sung in Creole, the language used most frequently in La Reunion, as well as some French.

With the vast array of musical genres that Nathalie dabbles in, it would be expected that she would have a favourite. In fact, Nathalie loves all music equally. “There’s no specific style of music that I enjoy more than the other, I just play depending on what inspires me. Right now, I’m really into soul and blues music from the 1930s and that’s what my next album will be focusing on,” Nathalie said.

Her fourth album will hopefully be released later this year, and has a distinctly different vibe to her previous three. “The reason why my music is changing is that I recently lost a parent, and it’s making me think about things differently,” she explained. “But of course, I will still play some funk and rock music!” With her complex style, her vibrant live sets and, let’s face it, her stunning personality, it’s hard not to get excited about Nathalie’s visit. Luckily, she feels the same way. “I’m really looking forward to coming back to Australia! I have a bit of a flutter in my tummy, I’m so excited!”

Nathalie Natiembe will perform live at The Street Theatre on Friday March 18. Entry is free, but bookings are essential. More details are available on the venue’s website.

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IN REVIEW

The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 The National Portrait Gallery ‘Til Tuesday April 26 2011 Framed not with a bang but with a pared back approach, the 55 finalists of The National Photographic Portrait Prize, 2011, delivered a nuanced view of their subject, which left a lasting impression on the judging panel – consisting of curator Dr Sarah Engledow, Dr Christopher Chapman, NPG Director Louise Doyle and Dr Domenico de Clario, Director of Adelaide’s Experimental Art Foundation.

In its fourth year the prize is unified by the value of being caught in the moment. This is most apparent in Jacqueline Mitelman’s winning piece, Miss Alesandra, 2010, where the subject’s unwavering gaze spills over into the viewer’s space.

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[then] being is no construct”, said Engledow.

In Sean Fennessy’s work Father and Son, 2010, Ken and Andrew Hodges splice the opaque blue water of a swimming pool. Their mint skin adds a delicacy to the tender scene. Andrew is buoyed by his father, recalling the religious narratives of long forgotten altars.

After a brain injury at 15 Andrew’s exercise routine is an important and nurturing act that his parents perform.

This year’s Portrait Prize is a teasing yet highly enjoyable courtship.

Get face to face with the show before it leaves Canberra and The National Portrait Gallery for a regional tour on Tuesday April 26. It may help you get to know the strangers in the room, not only those on the walls.

Chloe Mandryk

Mitelman, the first female winner in the history of the competition, echoes the dusty tones and clotted red splashes of the Dutch masters, yet entirely escapes 17th century archetypes of the image of woman. The subject is not inert, but statuesque with a shrewd gaze.

Skillfully the works escape the didactic feeling of previous years; at their best the images hold back what they want us to know. Consider Charles McKean’s Blind Harriet, 2010 – Harriet lies in ecstasy, mouth ajar, limbs reaching, held static in the artist’s frame. Synapses at full blaze she experiences joy and sensory delight, tickled pink in the wet green grass, ‘seeing’ beyond colour.

The finalists were not those that chose shocking imagery or blasted issues of identity, but those who showed that if “truth is not relative

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Jacqueline Mitelman, Miss Alesandra, 2010 (detail)

HE HAD ME IN TIERS tim galvin TOMMY TIERNAN must have very chapped lips. It is world renowned that kissing the Blarney Stone endows the ‘smacker’ with the gift of the gab, and Tiernan sure has a very effective gob. Based on ticket sales alone, the infamous Irish comedian is second only in his homeland to a little known Dublin four-piece by the name of U2 – not too shabby for a foul mouthed scofflaw from Inishowen.

Tommy isn’t afraid to stir up a little controversy wherever he goes; I would go as far to say that he is famous for it. Subjects like Down syndrome, homosexual astronauts and 9/11 have all found their way into his stand up routines over the years, something the cheeky Irishman isn’t too troubled with. “I live in it for the sake of laughter and ‘controversial’ is just the name of somebody else’s dog that keeps barking at me,” says Tommy. “I don’t recognise the creature but I know that if he hangs around my table long enough he is bound to pick up a few crumbs, but like I said, I don’t own him or trust him. He’s devious.”

Normal society teaches us that there are certain topics we can laugh at and certain no go zones emblazoned with a 50 foot high flashing stop sign. Tommy tends to ignore the obvious and decides instead to live his professional life on both sides of the moral highway. “All views are skewed,” he says. “Some are just more entertaining than others. Maybe humour is a sign of enlightenment but I doubt it. In fact, I doubt everything.”

His most famous stoush was with the entire Jewish race – an off the cuff remark regarding the holocaust, blurted out during a casual back and forth with an audience back in 2009, resulted in a backlash which led to a series of dates being cancelled on his tour of America.

That being said, Tommy doesn’t have anything against religion, ironically having played a priest in an episode of beloved UK comedy series Father Ted. “A priest that was hearing my confession once asked me to pause while he asked his friends to come around and listen too, but I took it as a compliment.” As they say, any publicity is good publicity, and Tiernan has certainly made the most of his career. As well as his amazing comedy career, Tommy has also delved into TV and radio, although he still hasn’t made his mind up about where he wants to be in ten years. “I haven’t actually decided to become a comedian yet.

I’m just killing time until I know exactly what it is I want to do with myself,” he says. “I don’t even have a list, I would just like to make it to the end of the day without exploding.”

Tommy returns to our barren brown land with a bubbling cauldron of offensive one liners. “I talk and they laugh,” he says. “Hopefully.”

See Tommy Tiernan perform live at the Canberra Theatre Centre on Saturday April 2. Tickets are $49.90 and can be purchased through the venue’s website.

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ARTISTPROFILE: Travis H Heinrich

What do you do? Video is the medium I work with. I make video ‘experiments’ that toy with certain visual or conceptual ideas, particularly in regards to how the viewer digests it. Capturing the sublime of the everyday is what I’m currently obsessed with. I also organise the occasional event.

When did you get into it? Aeons ago. I’ve always been fascinated by the visual arts and I suppose my passion for video originally came from my teenage love of music videos, with my discovery of Judd being my first access point into fine arts.

Who or what influences you as an artist? Artists that inspire me are Tara Donovan, Tom Friedman, Donald Judd, Olafur Eliasson, Thomas Demand, Tim Hawkinson, Uta Barth and Gregory Crewdson (just to name a few). But otherwise, I believe this question is somewhat rhetoric – I’m influenced by everything really.

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

One time I shot a handsaw out of a compound bow at a butane gas bottle.

What are your plans for the future? I’m studying honours this year, so that. I’ll probably take part in running a few gigs too, say at Smiths or the Art School ball again. Otherwise, RE: is taking precedent over my life for the next seven months. Check it out at www.regarding. com.au!

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What makes you laugh? Google ‘clarinet boy’.

What pisses you off? The treatment that some of our town’s culturally ripe small establishments have received due to Canberra’s red tape. That and people who can’t navigate themselves in shopping malls without infuriating me. Stand to the LEFT of the escalator.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Simply amazing. So many events have been popping up recently and they’re almost always events being organised by the artists themselves. In Canberra, you are a small fish in a small pond. People here are motivated and realise that potential we have.

What are your upcoming projects? RE: has been my main focus recently and started Sunday March 13. It’s an online based art collective that acts a bit like Chinese whispers between six artists over seven months. Involved are myself, Benjamin Forster, Anna Madeliene, Robbie Karmel, Sarah Firth and Luke Penders.

It’s based totally online, so you can check out the work easily from home. www.regarding.com.au – check it out!

Contact info: www. travishheinrich.com, travishheinrich@gmail. com

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WHO: Jason Byrne WHAT: Cirque du Byrne WHEN: Wednesday March 23, 8pm WHERE: The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre

bit PARTS WHO: Talented emerging artists WHAT: The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife WHEN: Friday March 25, 6pm WHERE: Photospace Gallery @ ANU School of Art A group of emerging Sydney and Canberra visual artists are banding together to explore sensuous and cephalopodic erotica.

The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife exhibition is inspired by and takes its name from the 19th century Japanese woodblock print

by Hokusai. Exploring the idea of the octopus as a sexual object will be a plethora of young talented artists including graduates and students of the ANU School of Art and Sydney-based artists.

Local creatives Lucinda Eva-May, George Rose, Tom Farrell, Eliya Nikki Cohen and Dean Butters among many others will be getting inspiration from our underwater friends. It’s going to be a killer exhibition so get along – you’ll never think of octopussy as a Bond girl again.

This year will mark Jason Byrne’s sixth consecutive tour of Australia.

Ireland’s funniest comedian delights audiences every year with his high energy and dynamic performances. You may recognise him as a regular on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival televised galas where his unique humour and wild use of audience participation demands your attention. More than just a comedy performance, Jason’s remarkable show is an event not to be missed.

Officially the funniest and most successful solo act in the history of the esteemed Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Byrne is consistently one of the festival’s top sellers year after year. Tickets are $38 or $32 (concession). Contact Canberra Theatre Centre for bookings.

WHO: Alliance Française WHAT: Alliance Française Film Festival WHEN: Wednesday March 16 – Sunday April 3 WHERE: Greater Union Cinema, Manuka and Arc Cinema, NFSA The 22nd Alliance Française French Film Festival is hitting Canberra and for the first time we will be getting to see the whole program, a thrilling 46 films in total. Romance, history, action, drama, comedy and horror – they’ve got it all covered. The festival should be a given for any film buff wanting to catch the best of contemporary French cinema as the festival continues to go from strength to strength.

A French film festival is never complete without an appearance by Gérard Depardieu and you can catch him in this year’s opening night film, Potiche, by Francois Ozon (8 Women). Make sure you get in early to book your tickets for all the films on offer and check out the festival program online at www.frenchfilmfestival.org .

WHO: Crack Theatre Festival WHAT: 2011 Festival Artist Callout WHEN: Applications due Thursday March 31 WHERE: cracktheatrefestival.com Crack is an extremely exciting national festival for alternative, experimental and borderline crazy arts practice and they want your ideas! The Crack Theatre Festival is designed as a launching pad for emerging artists in the festival scene and encourages and supports fringe and experimental performance. The festival artist callout for 2011 has begun and you need to get your application in fast! Think of a genius idea for a performance, put it into words and send Crack your dream. If you don’t get in, or you just want to see what it’s all about make sure you are in Newcastle from Thursday September 29 to Sunday October 3 as a part of the TiNA Festival.

WHO: N.U.T.S WHAT: Two Day-Play Generator WHEN: Thursday March 24 at 6pm to Sunday March 27 at 10pm WHERE: ANU Arts Centre

WHO: David Spooner WHAT: Exhibition WHEN: Tuesday March 15, 10.30am to Saturday March 26, 5pm WHERE: ANU School of Art Foyer Gallery

How nuts are you about theatre? Want to find out? Then N.U.T.S. Two-Day Play Generator is the workshop for you! N.U.T.S. is a student-run theatre company at the ANU which aims to provide a theatrical experience for the whole community and in addition to its productions also hosts a number of workshops. For this event aspiring writers will be given stimulus material and 48 hours to write a short performance piece, which will then be given to the N.U.T.S. Acting Ensemble who have to create a staged reading. All writers are welcome to attend the workshop. If this sounds like your thing send an email through to N.U.T.S. and get creating – nutsanu@gmail.com .

If you missed out on seeing David Spooner’s very impressive soft sculpture chimerical creature at CCAS last year, well consider yourself damn unlucky! He is back in Canberra with what is sure to be another knockout exhibition of his installation work. Currently a visiting artist in the Sculpture Workshop at ANU, Spooner is undertaking his doctorate at The Queensland College of Art. Using textiles, found objects, knitting, machine and hand stitching Spooner draws the threads of meaning from one object to the next, culminating in a mysterious narrative. The artist communicates with the viewer in languages of secrets, often challenging ingrained stereotypes of gender and masculinity.

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JURASSIC BARK matt petherbridge LAST DINOSAURS frontman Sean Caskey is mad for Nikola Tesla, the criminally underrated inventor (you know, the Tesla coil?) whose theories on electromagnetism ushered in the second Industrial Revolution, only to be discredited as ‘a mad scientist’, before dying in extreme poverty. BMA’s Matt Petherbridge had the chance to speak with Caskey about his love of Tesla and the band’s upcoming tour with Papa Vs. Pretty.

“The more you read about him, the more you realise how interesting and underappreciated he is as an inventor,” laughs Caskey. The band has just released their limited edition 7” vinyl single Time and Place, a song inspired by Tesla and recorded at Sydney’s BJB Studios with production whiz kid Jean-Paul Fung. “[Fung] was absolutely crucial in making it sound absolutely I want to make amazing,” says Caskey. “He’s by an album of far one of the best engineers that art, where you we’ve come across. BJB Studios has listen to it from a special vibe. We only had a couple start to finish of days and he made working in BJB and it’s not just a good experience.”

a playlist of singles

Originally envisioning Time and Place as a two-part song, it’s one of the first songs that Last Dinosaurs have crafted together in the jam room. If you listen at the end of the song, you’ll hear the band trail off into an interesting coda. “At first, the song wasn’t long enough, so I decided to make it a two part song. At the very end of that really long coda, I had that riff... during recording we ended up just chopping everything else out and leaving that riff at the end. I think it works well,” Caskey surmises.

Despite becoming triple j favourites with their pop-tropical single Honolulu, Caskey says Last Dinosaurs are keen on destroying that perception of the band. “There’s a big misconception of us being tropical. Honolulu is a very old song for us – it just happens to be the song that everyone digs.”

In fact, he’s currently awaiting approval from the band’s label Dew Process on the demos for their upcoming debut album. “I want to make an album of art, where you listen to it from start to finish and it’s not just a playlist of singles. I want it to have a bit of character.”

But for now the band is about to embark on an east coast tour with affable Sydney lads Papa Vs. Pretty during March and April. When the band’s management pitched the tour to them, they were a little bit unsure at first, but are now delighted. “At the time, I had heard [Papa Vs. Pretty’s] name, but not their music,” says Caskey. “We are quite different musically, but really, it’s the best idea. You don’t want to tour with a band you sound identical to – it would just be boring.

We met them in Sydney and they were really cool. I think we’ll have a fair bit in common with them.”

Catch Last Dinosaurs and Papa Vs. Pretty live at Transit Bar on Thursday March 31. Tickets are $10 + bf and are available through Moshtix.

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I’d written the songs for the first album I didn’t feel like I was betraying a band ideal. It felt right to keep the name.”

A NEW SPARK Peter Rosewarne Following the success of their debut album SPARKADIA frontman, Alex Burnett, didn’t know that all of his band members would leave.

And while he clearly appreciated their work it seems he took the exodus in stride when he says It was really “because with the second record scary not to [The Great Impression] the other have a band to guys wanted to do different things rely upon but it with their lives, I was given the was also really freedom to do whatever. So if I felt exciting! like recording a gong or hitting a metal pole or creating a gospel choir with my vocals then I didn’t have to ask anyone… I just went with the flow. It was really scary not to have a band to rely upon but it was also really exciting!” Burnett tells me that he retained the band name Sparkadia rather than moving forward with his own name à la Ben Folds because going solo “insinuates a vibe where I pull out the old harmonica and be a travelling troubadour. Because

Burnett has relocated to London which offers “a very encouraging world of pop music.” Certainly one of the more notable London artists to emerge in the last year or two is Florence and the Machine. Producer Mark Tieku, who worked with Florence, produced The Great Impression. Burnett holds Tieku in high esteem as he explains, “as a songwriter, Mark was very respectful of what I did and pushed me in the right direction when I was lacking certain elements. With his pedigree and the songs he’d written… we gelled very comfortably.”

The album indeed seems like a natural step forward for Sparkadia.

You’re still likely to recognise that Sparkadia-like sound but there’s an element of dramatic power that wasn’t there previously.

Burnett expands on the influences. “This record is very much a cinematic record. China Town really influenced this album but Boardwalk Empire was just coming out around the time I was working on the album and I loved all of the 1920s references and the religiosity of it. John Barry and the James Bond soundtrack are incredible but there’s loads of music that inspires me!”

After listing off in a fluster a myriad of names like The KLF and Primal Scream, Burnett goes on to explain that “there’s so much music over here! Every night there’s something going on. Just recently I saw Cocknbullkid and she’s got great attitude! To see this kind of music is inspiring as an artist because it makes you justify and rethink what you do and what your show involves.” Burnett looks forward to performing in Australia to Sparkadia’s loyal fan-base with his new British band who haven’t been here before.

The Great Impression tour rolls into town on Thursday March 24 as Sparkadia perform at the ANU Bar with Operator Please and Alpine supporting. Tickets are $23.85 and are available through Ticketek.

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GOING IT ALONE JOSH BECKER Often solo records are a chance for songwriters to make music that does not fit the mould of their other project. However GARETH LIDDIARD’s first solo album Strange Tourist is not a dramatic departure from the material of The Drones but rather a complementary release. It trades in raucous electric guitars for a stripped back acoustic guitar and vocals only affair. Influenced by the records of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed, Liddiard places the songwriting front and centre.

Recorded at Blackburn House, an old abandoned mansion outside of Yass, Liddiard was drawn to the character of the building. “The sound is really good and it’s a really cool place,” he says. “It was a tall Federation-type building… it was a bit rundown, but not badly, still quite liveable.” The mansion has a haunting presence on Strange Tourist – the rain falling on the roof bleeds into Liddiard’s vocals and the high ceilings give a ghostly room sound that adds ambience to the grim tales of wirewalkers, mailmen and terrorists.

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If you do Liddiard has a busy schedule for something people 2011, cramming in a second solo like and then tour with Dan Kelly, two album something they collaborations with Ben Salter from don’t, they hold it against you Brisbane band The Gin Club and Joel Silbersher from GOD. He is currently cutting and mixing a live DVD of The Drones – “some stuff we recorded live in Germany, some stuff from Melbourne. The main bit is something we recorded in a warehouse here [Havilah], with no one around. We just set up a whole bunch of gear and played the songs we usually play. Eventually I’ll start writing a new batch of songs for The Drones... but I won’t be putting myself under any pressure.”

The Drones have received critical acclaim both in Australia and overseas, winning The Australian Music Prize in 2005 and in 2009 Shark Fin Blues was voted best Australian song by the group’s peers.

It is surprising to hear Liddiard still has doubts about his music and how Strange Tourist would be received. “I’m surprised everyone liked it,” he muses. “Well, I’m not sure about everything I do. Just because people like one record doesn’t mean the next one will be received the same. If you do something people like and then you do something they don’t, they hold it against you, like you did it deliberately to spite them… because each time, you don’t know what it is about you that they like. If you did, well, you would be rich. So you never know, especially if it is an acoustic record, it’s just me by myself going ‘da da da da da da da’ you think people are just gonna fuckin’ hate it...

They do it with actors in movies. If he does a good one and then he does a shit one you go ‘he’s a fuckin idiot’ but you know, he was doing his best.”

Catch Gareth Liddiard supported by Dan Kelly live at The ANU Bar on Wednesday March 23. Tickets are $25 + bf and are available through Moshtix.

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BLOOMIN’ BEAUTIFUL

WOO-TANG CLAN

meredith campbell

Cara Sayer-Bourne

Irish singer LUKA BLOOM, aka Kevin Barry Moore, has been riding the wave of success for around 20 years now. Although at times it’s been hard to get on board. Despite his love affair with the sea, he admits that he’s a crappy swimmer. If he ever met a mermaid, of which exotic species he describes lyrically as a “water ballerina”, his first word, of the printable variety, would probably be “Help!”

2011 is going to be busy for self-described “gyspy-hardcore” band THE BARONS OF TANG. They set sail on their Over Sea and Sand tour earlier this month and are embarking on their first tour to the US in May, travelling up the east and west coasts, only to come back to Australia in July in time for the festival season. Their dedication to getting their sound out is clear from the relentless touring they have undertaken over the past few years.

Luka Bloom, he of the heartfelt bon mots and sanguine slide guitar, is in Australia to play for Aussies, I decide the first whom he calls “Paddies with suntans”. song about ten He loves Australian audiences, before minutes before whom he, dare I say it, will freestyle. the gig, then I “I don’t do setlists,” he explains in a say three Hail lilting email. “Setlists are like planning Marys a conversation. I don’t have a highly technical show requiring seamless coordination between lighting people etc... It’s just me and my songs. I decide the first song about ten minutes before the gig, then I say three Hail Marys.”

Luka has lived and played in the UK and two continents since commencing his recording career in 1978 with the album Treaty Store, drawing his strangely euphonic name from two diverse and unconnected fictional anti-heroes: Suzanne Vega’s Luka, and James Joyce’s Bloom. His 1990 album The Man is Alive was inspired by one year’s residence and rhyming in New York.

These days, the man’s home is his castle: Costa del Bog, deep in County Kildare. Yes, that’s a long way from the sea, his salty heaven.

For Luka, the self-confessed bogman, the natural world, both land and sea, continues to inspire and humble him. Many lyrics describe his deep concern for the survival of the world’s natural places.

He remarks rather bitterly that Aussies and the Irish share another common cultural trait, defining in part their relationship to their homelands. “We Irish talk a lot about how much we love Ireland and nature, but as a nation we seem quite content to utterly destroy the environment. Sadly, this seems to be something we have in common with Australia.” He describes his ongoing relationship with Australia in typical Bloomspeak: heartfelt, gritty, poetic and revealing. “Australia is an awesome land. She always leaves me breathless, and it is the only place in the world I feel sad when leaving, even though I’m going home.

I guess this constitutes affinity, though it feels more like love.”

And that also goes for Australian audiences. “The main reason for coming to sing for Aussies is that they keep showing up. This makes it incredibly easy to love Australian audiences; the simple fact that they choose to be there.” So the soulful bogman of Kildare has ventured again to the world’s largest island. He always returns to the sea. And this time he reveals deep insights. “Women in skimpy clothing go there. This is very inspiring.” Hail Luka. Everything is possible in God’s time, but nothing is foreshore.

Luka Bloom is performing three nights in a row at Tilley’s – TuesdayThursday March 22-24. The latter two have sold out, but tickets are still available for Tuesday night at $56.50 + bf via Ticketek.

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According to double bassist/vocalist Julian Cue, the touring life has its ups and downs. “Being on the road, your personality is under a microscope,” he explains. “It can be a real sort of test of self and you have to kind of compromise everything. It’s fun though. I really enjoy the travel and the romance of it all, playing in a different town each night and sleeping wherever. It’s a fun way ry sca very s It become to live.”

having your life sort of itinerated so far ahead; it’s like ‘wow, I know what I’m going to be doing in the winter of 2012

The Barons of Tang’s jaunty tunes are like those nostalgic, old days of Europe and Latin America you were never actually around for, which have then made sweet, violent love to a punk-hardcore fusion. Instruments having a nervous breakdown have never sounded so good, with each member of the seven-piece band bringing their own sensibilities to the table. A band that finds effective use of the accordion: need I say more?

Since the release of their second EP Knots and Tangles – described by one reviewer as “spec-fucking-tacular” – the band feel that they have finally established their sound. “We can now elaborate on that and focus a little bit more,” Julian says. “So can we actually write a catchy song, can we write the most complicated, break-neck song possible.

We are taking it to each extreme but deliberately.”

The Barons of Tang hope to have their debut album, which is already half written, out by next year though due to their hectic schedule, this may be a bit optimistic. “We’re really trying to come up with the best material possible for our debut album. It becomes very scary having your life sort of itinerated so far ahead; it’s like ‘wow, I know what I’m going to be doing in the winter of 2012.’”

With live reviews offering nothing but praise for the manic band, what can BMA readers expect from the tour? “I think we’re playing better than we’ve ever played before, which is awesome. We’ve got a whole bunch of new material and loving playing new songs and it’s just high energy. We’re really looking forward to getting to the National and playing to some Canberra audiences.”

Catch The Barons of Tang live at the National Folk Festival, held at Exhibition Park over Easter, Thursday-Monday April 21-25. Tickets can be purchased via the festival’s website.

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THE REALNESS First up this month is the new LP from Thundamental’s producer Tommy Fiasko under his new guise, The Silent Titan. For The Rest of My Days was released on Friday March 11 with distro from Obese Records and finds the Blue Mountains producer drawing on his many influences, including DJ Premier, Black Milk, J.Dilla and fellow Blue Mountains representatives Hermitude. With lashings of classic hip-hop, soul, jazz and a hint of psychedelia, For The Rest… is loosely based on the ‘beat-tape’ style format and is predominately composed of instrumental works. Vocal collaborations are few but impressive and come from Stones Throw Records Oh No and MED, Prince Po (Organised Konfusion) and Jase Excell. Fiasko is a tremendous producer and this release is sure to place his name up there with the likes of M-Phazes, Plutonic Lab and his many influences. Get this!

Former Canberran and Broken Tooth member Maggot Mouf has teamed up with another former Canberra resident No Name Nath (aka DJ Nathan) to bring you a new mixtape entitled Meat N 2Veg. Mixed together under the influence, the release features a bunch of exclusives from Mouf with beats from Sammy Scissors, Lost One, Carrot Gold (whaddup Nick!) and Mizari. Guest verses come from Dekoda, Gutz, Little Southwik, Eski, Plarks, Lostone and Booza B. Hit up myspace.com/maggotmoufmusic for more info.

Jumping overseas, Raekwon is set to follow up his acclaimed OB4CL2 with Shaolin Vs Wu-Tang on his own label Ice H20 this month. With a guest list longer than an Alaskan winter, the album features all the usual Wu suspects, plus appearances from Estelle, Busta Rhymes, Jim Hones, Nas, Rick Ross, Black Thought, Lloyd Banks and Raheem DeVaughn.

Boston emcee Reks is back again with his latest full length Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme through Brick. An all-star producer line-up has been assembled for the underrated lyricist with the likes of DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Fizzy Womack, Alchemist, Statik Selektah, Nottz, Hi-Tek, Sha Money and Grind Music all contributing soundtracks. Styles P, Termanology, Freeway and Lil Fame all drop by for guest slots. Can’t wait to hear the album as Reks never disappoints.

Over to the UK and Bristol’s bass music aficionado Hyetal is set to release his debut album Broadcast through the ever-dope Black Acre label. Featuring the amazing Phoenix the album will further showcase his drunken synth style over ten tunes. Having previously released tracks on Soul Motive, Reduction, Format and Punch Drunk and collaborating with Shortstuff, Peverelist, Baobinga and Julio Bashmore, the time is right for Hyetal to step solo into the spotlight.

Can’t wait for the album! It is out officially on Monday May 2.

Finally this month, brilliant news that Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek aka Africa Hitech will release their new LP 93 Million Miles on Monday May 9 through the legendary Warp. The album follows two previous EPs under the Hitech moniker. Amazing single Out In The Street is out now and wallops along at a 160bpm Juke style and the rest of the album should follow suit, pushing boundaries and representing the many facets of modern bass music.

To hear music from all of the above and much more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tuesday night from 9.30 – 11pm or stream at www.2xxfm.org.au .

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ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

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METALISE One of the highlights of a band not playing a festival will forever be for me Slayer’s cancellation on the day of the Sydney Soundwave show. Through the wicked web we weave in life, I had the fortune to cop backstage passes to the show and got wind of Tom’s cancellation at about 4.30pm when word spread around stage that the band had detoured to a hospital en route to the Sydney Showgrounds for their 5.30-ish performance. Not looking good.

Tom Araya had taken ill following the band’s Brisbane performance the night before and, following doctor’s orders post consultation, cancelled their show. I had seen Andrew Haug, metal presenter on triple j’s Tuesday night show The Racket, cruising around with his twin brother Paul. Paul filled in for Tom on vocals for a song when the band last had frontman issues in Melbourne at the end of ‘09 and made jokes about filling in again. No one was laughing. Of course then when I heard Andrew somehow got the job to break the news to about 15,000 people, of which about half were wearing Slayer shirts, that the band had cancelled last minute, I ran around the front to see how the news went down.

For the most part it was a vibe sucker and the vast majority walked off disappointed (understandably). The best was to come from the 100 odd morons who then showered the stage with water bottles and half full cans of mid strength UDL drinks (12 dollars each, moron qualifier there) before attempting to set fire to a sweat and beer soaked Slayer t-shirt (moron solidifier) with around 20 odd cigarette lighters.

There was a small puff of smoke after about five minutes and a few extra shirts for kindling, but I still reckon most of those guys listened to Reign In Blood in the car ride home. People get sick – even Tom Araya – it was a bummer, but it didn’t stop the day being awesome.

The Melvins, Kylesa, Monster Magnet, Dimmu Borgir and High On Fire, power cuts and all, were my personal highlights. Respect to Haugy’s ballsy move; a YouTube video is floating about of the events above, check ‘em for yourself.

There’s rumour of another, ALLEGEDLY more metal Soundwave show happening in September in the same cities to kind of bookend the Australian summer. Posters for the Soundwave Revolution are circulating and code breakers interpret the tour will start around Saturday September 24. Hopefully enough time for the bank balances of thrashers everywhere to recover.

The Basement has a big show on Friday March 18 with Draconis Infernum from Singapore making the effort to come down and test the structural integrity of Belconnen’s heaviest room. Joining them are Belligerent Intent, The Automata and Nemesphyxia. On Saturday March 19 there’s Changeable Dan and Who’s Ya Daddy.

The following weekend sees White Circus play on Friday March 25 and Tortured on Saturday March 26.

On Friday April 8 there is a Nirvana tribute with a local band tackling songs from each of the band’s main releases. Na Maza do Nevermind, Variodivers do In Utero, Inside The Exterior do Bleach, Looking Glass do Incesticide and John Lollback the Unplugged record. Interesting…

Josh NP: The Truth Beyond – Entombed – Left Hand Path JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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the word

on albums

album of the issue The Ellis Collective Means What It Means [longhaul Records]

‘Bloke folk’; it’s an intriguing term. Made up of two nouns which, taken as singular signifiers, bring to mind two very opposing images: a stubbies-wearing, Tooheystoting, hairy, smelly man’s man; and the gentle, lilting tones of Appalachian mountain music.

Yet under the hand of Matty Ellis of The Ellis Collective, something is created which becomes entirely universal.

Means What It Means is the debut album from the Canberra six-piece. It is an hour’s worth of intelligently crafted and achingly honest music: songs of heartbreak, loss, longing and self destruction. An eclectic mix of instrumentation (from guitar and drums, to Hammond organ, flugelhorn and saw) creates a musical layering that mirrors the layering of emotional intensity within the lyrics. Faultless harmonies combine with pizzicato-driven rhythmic tension, as we are propelled along the album’s journey. The penultimate track, Don’t Go (“…stay saving my soul”) ends with two minutes of silence. But just as we shakily exhale, reeling from the preceding songs, the hidden track begins. Guitar strikes up, echoed by simple and steady percussion, and at the heart of it all, Ellis’ raw, emotive and gutsy vocals. And it takes our breath away.

Nicola Menser Hearn

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Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo [Matador]

Oh Mercy Great Barrier Grief [EMI]

R.E.M. Collapse Into Now [Warner]

The decline of the singer/ songwriter in modern music has received little attention.

A rich tradition, stretching back far beyond the era of popular music and advanced by generations of troubadours and raconteurs, has seemingly been cast away in favour of electric instrumentation and the fourpiece. Yet every so often, an artist will appear that refocuses attention, an artist that reminds us of the beauty of simplicity.

Kurt Vile is such a man. A fresh faced 30-something resident of Philadelphia, Vile (his real birth name) has become somewhat of a musician’s musician. Smoke Ring For My Halo is his fourth full length release, and his second on the cult Matador label. What Vile delivers is his most coherent effort to date; an album that unhurriedly rambles through a landscape of dreamy bedroom pop that is both effortless and intricate.

It Melbourne band Oh Mercy has crowned themselves the kings of understated Australian pop with their second album Great Barrier Grief. Intent on mesmerising the mind instead of overwhelming it, the album opens with the pleasant marimba-driven melody of Stay, Please, Stay. Things get country funky with triple j favourite Keith St. (see if you can spot the Groove Armada vocal similarity!). Singer/songwriter Alexander Gow has zoned in on sweet, innocent melodies here, as he croons “I’m a single man / Don’t fuck up my plans” on the lounge lizard piano tinkle of Let Me Go whilst Blue Lagoon is tender and plaintive with syrupy slide guitar tendencies. Don’t be fooled by the production credit of Mitchell Froom (Crowded House) – Great Barrier Grief has so much more to offer than a potential discography mining of Neil Finn. The rhythm patterns evoke the simple, effective grooves of Fleetwood Mac – especially in On The Run and Hold Out Your Hand.

15 albums and 28 years in, R.E.M. continue to plough headlong into irrelevance.

Truth be told they haven’t been essential for well over a decade, but that’s certainly not prevented them from churning out an ever growing collection of sluggish, lumpy and directionless records.

Collapse is generating plaudits because a bunch of the songs on it sound like some of their older, better songs. What sort of measurement is that exactly?

Sure, there are faint similarities between UBerlin and Drive and Oh My Heart could well be an Out of Time cast-off, but that’s as deep as it gets. There’s simply nowhere to go with such a comparison. And whilst Peter Buck’s decision to dust off the mandolin is praiseworthy (the jangle-heavy It Happened Today starts a mid-album peak of three decent tracks in a row) he’s far more enjoyable these days as a member of Robyn Hitchcock’s band, perhaps unbound by expectations.

Featuring occasional appearances by backing band The Violators, Smoke Ring For My Halo is at its strongest when a solo Vile is left to his own devices. Peeping Tomboy is a perfect blend of stripped down guitar and narrative lyricism, and a welcome pause from the album’s more layered textures.

Society Is My Friend sees Vile’s dreamy acoustic sound at its best: coloured by The Violators’ harshness and underpinned by straightforward vocals. A string of well constructed pop songs, Smoke Ring For My Halo is a pleasure to get lost in. Vile’s smooth vocals and songwriting ability provide hope that all is not lost.

Liam Demamiel

Great Barrier Grief is not going to conquer the world with Gagalike posturing or a hardened rock edge, but it’s going to encourage people to pick up guitars and/or sing and play along. Album highlights include the sombre Mercy Valley and the spiralling melancholy of closing track Doldrums. When should you listen to it? Those long and lonely train rides when sweet, sweet music is your only shoulder.

MATT PETHERBRIDGE

But a broader, more troubling question remains; who exactly are they making albums for anymore? ‘For themselves’ is a cop-out answer but it’s hard to imagine they’re picking up new fans with this formulaic middle of the road tosh and the rest of us are weary of making excuses for this band. Forgiving every half-baked retread of a humid summer long gone, every familiar descending arpeggio, every vaguely recognisable chorus and every blustering glam ‘rock’ number. It just doesn’t muster.

JUSTIN HOOK

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

Sparkadia The Great Impression [Ivy League Records]

Whitesnake Forevermore [Frontiers]

Zero Degrees Last Forever [Empire/MGM]

Staying true to form may be difficult when every band member (apart from the frontman) changes. But Sparkadia’s second LP retains their distinctive sound. By and large this sound is probably courtesy of Alex Burnett, the driving force behind Sparkadia.

What’s changed since Postcards is that there is a little more oomph. Sparkadia deliver with more confidence and instrumental play. The added oomph could also be due in part to the work of producer Mark Tieku, who previously worked with Florence and the Machine. There are more than a few power ballads on The Great Impression. It’s nice to hear a little more rock and roll going on, particularly with the aggressive piano punching Shoot Straight. And Mary reveals Burnett’s bitter fury as he laments the debilitating emotional toll of relationships (with someone you love or even with the Catholic Church). But the power pop isn’t over the top like the more recent Kings of Leon albums. It’s smoothly tempered with slower anthems like Fingerprints and Fade From View, which would have suited the debut album were they not fluffed up a little more.

Whitesnake. For a decade between the late ‘70s and the end of the ‘80s that ludicrous moniker was a byword for by turns bluesy hard rock of the highest order and then swaggering, sleek and sexy hair metal that sold by the bucketload and, in the shape of one album – 1987’s 1987 – came to represent that much lampooned genre in all its blow-dried, power balladed finery. After 1989’s Slip of the Tongue ‘Snake main man David Coverdale lost his way a little – an ultimately ill-fated collaboration with Jimmy Page and a not entirely convincing solo album being the sum total of his output through the ‘90s – before, as so many of his peers before and since have decided to do, the man decided to have a go at recalling former glories with his old meal ticket. 2008 saw the release of Good to be Bad, an appealing attempt at mixing the two eras of Whitesnake, which was received with good grace by both fans and critics alike; its success left the door open for Coverdale to extend Whitesnake’s run a little longer, which brings us to 2011 and Forevermore. Put simply, Forevermore finishes with complete success the work started by its predecessor.

A scintillating melange of everything that made (and make) Whitesnake the finest band of its type, Forevermore is the quintessential WS album.

Equal parts bluesy bluster and screaming heavy metal thunder, there isn’t a second on this release that doesn’t leave the listener baying for more. This is the perfect hard rock album, and I bloody love it.

Once frequently seen around Canberra as Zero Degrees and Falling, these power-poppers have acquired a shorter name and a sharper image.

After forming in 2005, they worked like hell to raise their profile through organising all-ages concerts with big name headliners. This hard yakka finally paid off in spades when they drew the attention of a major label. With a big label comes big marketing. The CD cover art, with individually named photos, positively screams tween/young teen and much attention has gone into styling the ‘disarranged’ hair. However, the substance is much stronger than the image.

While the target demographic is normally fed on loads of bland swill, Zero Degrees have delivered a punchy, genuinely stimulating sound, with crisp vocals, sing along lyrics, catchy melodies and danceable rhythms. Songs are more keyboard than guitar-driven, reflecting the band’s love of the ‘80s. While the opener So Beautiful is the album’s highlight, Sweetest Melody is a beguilingly boppy little number and there are warm harmonies in the title track.

Vocalist Ferdi expresses more genuine emotion in Redefine, which brings the tone closer to the sound of the band before they found fame. More goodies appear later, including All of Nothing and Torn Apart, which impresses with its electro rock vibe. Zero Degrees keep the pace fast throughout, avoiding the trap of the slow maudlin ballads that often appear in this genre (good call boys).

Burnett said that the album was developed around London pop influences like CocknBullKid and La Roux, and also film scores. You really get a sense of that dramatic delivery from the moment the album begins. With an album as good as this it’s easy to see why Sparkadia are receiving plenty of international attention.

Peter Rosewarne

Scott Adams

Rory McCartney

Architecture In Helsinki Contact High [Modular/UMA] Picture Prince getting a beej from a time-travelling pleasure robot in a poppy field on Mars while all around him a freak-folk orchestra chants and cheers at every slurp and you still won’t come close to how damn good this song is.

Brian McFadden Just The Way You Are (Drunk At The Bar) [BMF Records] Everyone’s in a tizz about how BriFad’s latest single is an ugly portrait of modern misogyny and rape culture, but I think the most offensive part of this is its smearing of Cotton Eye Joe’s hardfloor banjo legacy.

Kim Kardashian Jam (Turn It Up) [Self-Released] This is so uninspired and tuneless that it makes every track in Paris Hilton’s music career seem like OK Computer.

Sky Ferreira Sex Rules [EMI] Sky Ferreira is like 19. And she looks even younger. So it’s kinda awkward to hear her moan and pout on this would-be slutwave anthem. But if you can move past feeling like a sex pest then the fluttering synths and pounding (eek!) drums make for some fun, disposable pop.

43

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

The Academy Awards came and went, and the only real travesty is that Jacki Weaver didn’t win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her turn as the occasionally-oedipal-esque matriarch of a Melbourne crime family in Animal Kingdom was most deserving. Although this reviewer picked neither Best Picture nor Direction correctly. I thought Black Swan/Aronofsky deserved it, was certain that The Social Network/Fincher was going to win instead, and was slightly appalled that The King’s Speech/Hooper triumphed in the end. Still, maybe Aronofsky’s next film will be a feel-good crowd-pleaser? Then again, maybe not.

quote of the issue David (Matt Damon): “Are you a registered New York voter?”

Elise (Emily Blunt): “Do I look like a registered New York voter to you?”

The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau

The Way Back

Rabbit Hole

The Adjustment Bureau is not bureaucratic. It’s hardly a film that gets bogged down by such inconveniences as ‘consistency,’ ‘practicality,’ or ‘coherent plot.’

What it does have in common with bureaucracy is that it’s really irritating.

Nothing makes your problems seem trivial like watching a film where some ragtag escapees brave both blizzards and desert to trek 4,000 miles to freedom – all the way from Siberia to India. Along the way they eat raw, torn-apart wolf carcass; slurp water from a dirty puddle; get eaten by tornadoes of mosquitoes; and, unsurprisingly, not all of them make it.

Canberra’s not looking so bad anymore, is it?

Adapted for the screen by David Lindsay-Abaire, and based on his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Rabbit Hole tells the story of Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart), a couple who are still struggling to come to terms with the death of their four-year-old son just eight months previously.

Politician David Norris (Matt Damon) is on the verge of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate when he meets the free-spirit Elise (Emily Blunt).

David and Elise share an instant connection, and it’s almost like they’re meant to be together – only, they’re not. Cue some welldressed agents (cough, angels, cough) of The Chairman (cough, God, cough), who appear to warn David off ever seeing Elise again. Or else they’ll cut him with their sharp fedora hats.

The Adjustment Bureau wants to ask deep philosophical questions of the audience, but it merely succeeds in being pretentious. It wants to give us a good action sequence, but instead we get Matt Damon literally opening and closing a lot of doors. It wants to be clever like the Philip K. Dick short story it is based on, but it’s just not.

Where the film works is between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Who knows why two such good-looking stars agreed to be in this poorly plotted piece, but they did – and the chemistry between the two is convincing.

Their relationship lifts the film from being truly terrible to tolerable.

This film isn’t awful. But by The Chairman it’s annoying!

Melissa Wellham

44

The group (which includes Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess and later Saoirse Ronan) walk for months to escape the spread of Communism – through the Gobi Desert and across the Himalayas. It’s an epic journey, which also gives director Peter Weir some great opportunities for some excellent scenery shots, which are a strong point of the film.

The Way Back shows what people are capable of enduring in the quest for freedom. Their determination is admirable, although Sturgess does get a little tedious towards the end.

It did run a little long for my tastes, and much of the film does consist of walking, sleeping on the ground, lolling about in the throes of starvation and dehydration, and then more walking. That said, Weir does manage to maintain your interest despite this fact.

I found The Way Back to be enjoyable enough. While it isn’t necessarily gripping or memorable, it’s still a fairly solid film. Even though it does make some hot men look ugly.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

Although it’s very obvious that this film has its origins on the stage, it doesn’t unduly affect the quality of the film.

It makes it sometimes static, and sometimes peacefully still – which is not altogether a bad thing, when attempting to portray two characters who are unable to move on, or trying to find brief moments throughout the day when they feel okay.

Although the title evokes the idea of an unknown journey, there is nothing entirely unexpected about this film.

We see Kidman and Eckhart displaying their characters’ grief, and attempting to work through their grief. But just because Rabbit Hole doesn’t show the audience anything unforeseen, doesn’t make it any easier to watch. We know what’s coming, but it’s still painful when it does.

Both Kidman and Eckhart deliver harrowing performances, though Kidman’s has received rather more press – perhaps because audiences are so unused to seeing her utilise those facial muscles. But utilise them she does, and to great effect.

Rabbit Hole is not an easy film to watch, but it’s well worth the effort.

MELISSA WELLHAM

the word on dvds

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – Season 4 [20th Century Fox]

Flickerfest 2011: 20th Anniversary [Madman]

The final episode of the fourth season of Always Sunny stands for many as a high watermark.

The Nightman Cometh finds Charlie (Charlie Day) writing and directing a creepy, vaguely psycho-sexual stage play drama about the theft of a boy’s soul which the gang (Kaitlin Olsen, Rob McElhenrey, Glenn Howerton and Danny De Vito) ruin straight away with on the run rewrites, the introduction of cat’s eye contact lenses, karate… you name it.

Just before these episodes aired, Fox announced they had greenlit an extra three seasons and many worried the show would coast with the threat of cancellation removed. The opposite seems to have happened – it gets more inspired and brilliant as it goes.

Let’s face it – people’s desire for on-screen entertainment is increasing at the same fast rate at which the individual time periods which they have to watch such entertainment in (and not to mention their attention spans) seems to be decreasing. Now, let’s assume that this proposition, while being vastly generalising and speculative, contains at least a sliver of merit – while some of the television produced today surpasses even the best of film in its quality, short film as well is challenging traditional film in both quality and recognition. It’s great to see then, that as part of Flickerfest’s 20th anniversary celebrations, they’ve released a two disc DVD featuring some of the most successful films that have featured in the festival. All the films – both Australian and international – have received major worldwide recognition, including BAFTA and Academy awards, and nominations at festivals such as Sundance, Cannes and Venice; this speaks volumes not only to the quality of the films themselves, but to the calibre of entries received.

As Australia’s only competitive international short film festival, and one that has become globally recognised for the films it showcases, it is the Australian films and directors featured on this DVD that are particularly pleasing; for their entertainment value as well as timely reminders of the high standards Australians regularly achieve in the short film world.

There is Hannah Hilliard’s Franswa Sharl, which succeeds so easily in being charming, funny and touching – the three characteristics many would believe to be the holy trinity of short film success. Then there are offerings from now legendary Australian directors including David Michod (Animal Kingdom), Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah) and Cate Shortland (Somersault). Great view – especially when you’re short on time.

JUSTIN HOOK

ben hermann

It’s a bravura episode that captures all the best elements of the show: out of control chaos, wanton scheming, razor sharp banter, lots of yelling and phenomenal scripting.

So popular was the episode that the actors expanded the concept and toured it in real theatres across North American to some pretty decent reviews.

The ep caps off an extraordinary season. By now it had long settled into its groove; a group of unrepentant, hyper competitive, low achieving scumbags forever in search of someone’s face to shove ‘it’ into and always on the lookout for trouble. Like Frank convincing Dee (Olsen) and Charlie they had just eaten human flesh, which sees the pair assuming they were cannibals and rocking up to a morgue with a six pack and portable grill.

Or the gang engaging in some shoddy science to figure out whom exactly despoiled the bed shared by Charlie and Frank (De Vito). And then there’s an episode set in the 1700s where the gang are just as rude as they are now – just in fancier clothes.

buried [Icon] For a film that spends every minute in the cramped confines of a coffin somewhere underneath the Iraqi desert, there’s a lot of space in Buried.

Space for the viewer to consider Paul Conroy’s (Ryan Reynolds) predicament. What was he doing in Iraq in the first place? How did he manage to get buried alive? Who can help?

Why was he taken hostage and more importantly how is he to get out alive?

Buried opens with a blank screen which immediately throws the viewer off-kilter and creates fidgety anxiety.

Eventually, a Zippo lighter flame sparks and Paul, an American civilian contractor in Iraq, is revealed buried in a box. A mobile phone has been placed in the box by his captors.

The phone is Paul’s only hope.

Through it, he must negotiate his way out. He’s given a time by which he must organise $9 million in ransom. Every call he makes reduces his battery life and by extension the probability of his own life.

This is a thoroughly modern film. Whilst confinement as a cinematic theme isn’t exactly new, its treatment here is.

Technology is a lifeline – but no saviour. Someone else at the other end must be willing to enact some sort of rescue plan.

A plan is eventually hatched after a convoluted series of misdirections and hung up calls that culminate in a mendacious conversation with his employer as they try to weasel out of covering his probable life insurance payout. Buried is intensely claustrophobic, there are no flashbacks to act as tension valves or moderate the overbearing dread. As such it’s up to Reynolds to carry the entire film. He does. It’s a belligerent, confused and desperate performance and Buried is an unsettling film that far exceeds its experimental approach to narrative.

JUSTIN HOOK

45

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

Dead Space 2 Developer: Visceral Games Platforms: PS3, 360, PC Length: 10 hrs Rating: Worth purchasing The original Dead Space was a hit back in 2008 when it was released, being a top tier horror shooter with great atmosphere and a knack for making you freak out and blind fire at the enemy approaching you.

In Dead Space 2 we follow the journey of Isaac Clarke, a ship’s engineer who due to events beyond his control must deal with and eradicate an alien infestation that attacks, transforms and controls human flesh.

In this second instalment of the series, we are with Isaac as he struggles to understand how the infestation escaped again, why his memory is gone and why spaceships are always made with so many damn vents for things to hide in (seriously, WTF).

Dead Space 2 is very similar (pretty much identical) to the first game, which is both a criticism and a compliment. You can’t help but be critical of the fact that enemies and guns feel very familiar, i.e. you’ll still be killing Necromorphs by shooting off their limbs and the first time I came across a Necromorph lying on the ground, I had a moment of recall back to the first game (‘oh shit, he’s just about to get up!’) as he sprung to life to try and eat me.

Improvements that have been made over the original include the storyline and combat environment; these add depth and intrigue to both your reasons for moving about the game world and in tackling your undead foes. The storyline now has some nice twists and turns, and Isaac actively interacts with characters in the game, something not much seen in the first instalment.

The ability to manipulate gravity using your Kinesis module now features heavily in combat, with much made of the ability to literally tear your enemy limb from limb and then use these sword-like limbs as projectile weapons against yet more enemies.

There are also a few homages to the scarier parts of the first Dead Space, including a déjà vu filled trek through the setting of the first game, the spaceship Ishimura.

As an engineer myself, I can easily relate to being surrounded by flesh eating zombies (jks, love you guys), but I know that even on a good day I would be unable to deal with what our protagonist takes in his stride.

Babies that crawl towards you crying in order to explode, screaming humans glued to the wall and your main foe, the multi-limbed stalking terror that is the Necromorph. This is not a game for the faint hearted.

But for those with the constitution, this is a great game with a lot to offer, albeit in a similar fashion to the first game.

Peter Davis

Movies are back! When pay TV arrived, movies all but disappeared from the telly, apart from high rotation romcoms (Pretty Woman, Bridget Jones) and the occasional cult classic late at night, just before the irritating ads for exercise machines that promise in just five minutes a day your couch potato physique will be transformed to match the rippling abs of the presenter. The challenge of filling at least three 24 hour schedules per network has meant forgotten flicks are popping up everywhere on the (slightly larger) small screen. The upside – it’s free and you don’t have to leave the house to find them. The downside – you have to endure (or tape and skip) the ads. Some of the standouts over the next fortnight include: Seven (GEM, Mon Mar 28, 9.30pm), Flight of the Navigator (Go!, Sat Apr 2, 6.30pm), Space Balls (Go!, Sat Apr 2, 6.30pm) – yes, there was a Star Wars spoof long before Blue Harvest, Dead Calm (GEM, Wed Mar 23, 9.30pm), Friday the 13th (Go!, Wed Mar 23, 9.30pm), Snatch (Go!, Fri Mar 25, 9.30pm), Shampoo (ABC2, Sat Apr 2, 8.30pm) and The Taming of the Shrew (ABC2, Sat Mar 26, 8.30pm).

Confirmation that The Big Bang Theory (Go!, Sun, Mon, Thu, 7.30pm and Thu 8.30pm – WIN, Tue, Wed, 7.30pm) is the new Simpsons – after setting record series, the (quite old) set top box at Chez Blackbox ran out of hard drive after two weeks!

It’s a Greek warrior festival over at 7Mate with Xena Warrior Princess (7Mate, Mon-Fri, 3.30pm) and Hercules (7Mate, Mon-Fri, 4pm). Blackbox is awaiting the return of Roar, starring Heath Ledger as an Irishman uniting Celtic clans against the Romans. Sure, a different century and a different place but it was still about bravado, leather armour and sword fights.

The fourth season of Big Love (SBS1, Wed, 8.30pm) wraps up on Wednesday March 30, with the news that the next season, currently airing in the US, will be the last.

New but already relegated to Friday night is The Cape (7Mate, Fri Apr 1, 8.30pm). This could go either way – an out there premise (a cop who has been set up takes on the identity of a comic super hero to clear his name, and fight crime), Summer Glau in the cast and panned by US critics. It has the hallmarks of some other shows…

Firefly comes to mind. And yes it’s already been cancelled in the States.

Docos to look out for include Reagan (SBS1, Sun Mar 27, 9.30pm) which looks at Ronald Reagan’s career on the 100th anniversary of his birth, America, Whaling & the World (SBS1, Tue Mar 29, 10.05pm) which looks at the American whaling industry, Stripped (SBS1, Fri Apr 1, 10.05pm) which follows photographer Greg Friedler as he captures 173 photos in Las Vegas for his Naked series, Mind the Gap (SBS1, Fri Apr 1, 8.30pm) which follows an Australian Sikh family (originally from Kenya via London) as they head to India in search of their identity, Casino Jack and the United States of Money (SBS1, Sun Mar 20, 9.30pm) – a portrait of former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy, Roads to Memphis (SBS1, Tue Mar 22, 10.05pm) – the stories of Martin Luther King and his assassin, James Earl Ray. Remember Daylight Savings ends Saturday April 2 – reset your recorder!

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

46

47

the word

on gigs

Dizzee Rascal / The Subs / Tai Venue UC Refectory Friday March 4 There was a moment of epiphanous clarity on the dancefloor awaiting Dizzee Rascal at the swishly refurbed UC Refectory. It was this: 95% of the people around us were taller, chunkier and much, much younger. While mulling over the possible consequences of artificial hormone-laced poultry and its debated effects on developing bodies, our ears were being overcome by the tech-heavy ‘ghetto electro’ sounds thundering from the mixer of producer/DJ Tai Jason, aka TAI of Germanland. While the set was probably a bit heavy for 9.30pm as punters were just settling in with their first drink, it did sound fresh.

Being a sucker for classic cheese, some misgivings were eliminated when the dude dropped the 1994 Reel 2 Real masterpiece I Like To Move It. But it was TAI’s closing track, Guns N Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine, that the amassing crowd responded to best.

Next up, there was nothing sub-par about Belgian trance punk outfit The Subs, who only just made it to the show after lead singer Papillon was arrested at Canberra airport for surfing the baggage carousel.

Sporting eye make up right out of The Fifth Element, the trio were armed with an impressive array of analogue and digital equipment (like a Korg MS20 feeding all kinds of stomp boxes, Akai APC40 driving loops, a couple Kaos pads and even some gear that looked custom made). Sadly much of their digital jamming, as they deftly wove amongst their machines, was perhaps above the heads of even this uncommonly tall, rum-fuelled mass. Still, the hypnotic driving sounds and dynamic, theatrical performance filled the dancefloor and got the young’uns pumped for Dizzee’s arrival.

As the stage cleared, the rabble launched into a compelling chant: “Diz-zee, Diz-zee”. When the Rascal himself, who managed to exude confidence even while wearing the daggiest Air Jordan ensemble this writer has ever seen, was spotted entering the arena on the mezzanine level, a huge roar erupted. Opening with Jus a Rascal, the third single from his Mercury Prize-winning debut album, it wasn’t until Road Rage dropped a few songs into the set that the crowd seemed to respond to something they recognised. Perhaps he was testing the audience, or just saving his newer, up-tempo disco/house crossover numbers for later in the set. Personally, older tunes like Stand Up Tall and Fix Up Look Sharp had our feet jiving, but the crowd en mass were rioting for anything with a four on the floor beat. Performing alongside DJ MK, fellow rapper Scope and some guy singing some, let’s face it, pretty corny RnB vocals, the 2010 BRIT award winner gave the 1700-strong horde what they came for with club bangers Dance Wiv Me, and Holiday and Bonkers in the encore.

It could have been the incendiary music, the fact that we were in Belcompton, or perhaps that contentious chicken meat, but the seething throngs were positively demented. We witnessed exactly four fights, one insane individual who back-flipped off the tallest speaker at the venue and nearly killed himself plus a few hapless bystanders, and a feisty crowd-surfer who the security guards descended upon like a pack of dogs. A massive hole now decorates the wall where assumedly an extremity of his was used like a battering ram. Blood was spilled. It was brutal. Thank fuck for the civilised, haven-like VIP area upstairs.

photos by: rockviewau - FasterLouder via www.fasterlouder.com.au

48

Even Dizzee didn’t seem too impressed, calling the somersaulting maniac “a fuckin’ idiot”. Sure, he instigated a couple of Aussie Aussie Aussie chants, and made a few obligatory “Canberra, Australia, we love you!” shout outs, but after a 45 minute performance and a three song encore, the 25 year old Brit and his entourage were outta there like a curry fart. It also makes you wonder: despite all the commercial success of his recent albums, the red carpet treatment and other perks of celebrity living, whether the troubled boy who grew up to be the ‘King of Grime’ feels a little like he’s sold his soul.

The Karunas

the word

The Last Prom SmithDick, Civic Bus Interchange Friday March 11

on gigs

At 7.30pm on Friday March 11, I snuck out of the Mashing-Up Plays theatre performance at Smiths Bookshop and hustled over to the SmithDick space in the Civic Interchange. Housed in the former Dick Smith shopfront in the Saraton Building, the You Are Here Festival hub had been transfigured by the healing hands of Design Team (Michaela Dabson, Kerri Dibben and Jeff McCann) into a rough map of the ACT, with Canberran landmarks such as the Black Mountain Tower, the Carillon and Captain Cook’s fountain (ruefully described by Jeff from Design Team as “a big woolly dick”) depicted in human-sized models.

At ten to nine, Festival Coordinator Max Barker joined me outside to manage the entrance to the venue, dressed in a ragged dinner suit with white face paint and sunglasses. By this time, the line to get into SmithDick stretched around the corner and down City Walk as far as King O’Malley’s. There were easily more people than the venue could fit, and all of them looked hyped up and ready to lose their shit in a high volume dancing situation.

Max and I walked down the line, advising punters to drink, urinate and stretch before entering the space, as there would be no opportunities for any of that once they were in.

By 8.59pm the bands were all in place, You Are Here Festival crew were staked out throughout the venue, and we were ready to go.

Technical Coordinator Anthony Arblaster gave the signal, we threw open the doors, and ushered the first batch of customers in like they were jumping off a helicopter into a war zone.

Instantly, Assassins 88 leapt into some high gear, high volume punk rock, and the windows of the venue were shaking, and the crowd was seething. Over the next few minutes, we let in small groups of 15 in short bursts. By the time we’d gotten halfway down the line, the venue was nearly full and Assassins 88 were almost through their ten minute set.

With Max checking the invitations list and keeping track of numbers, I was in charge of shrugging sheepishly and apologising whenever we had to halt someone from going to the venue. No one’s happy about being made to wait outside a gig when there are other people dancing inside, and everyone twists up their face a little when you tell them to wait until the space has cleared a little. In their heart of hearts, though, people know that it’s not your (the doorbitch’s) fault.

It’s intense. But the audience for The Last Prom, as well as being superdressed and sexy as all hell, were almost entirely wonderfully calm and chipper about being made to wait. It probably helped that you could see and hear exactly what was going on inside through the windows, up until they fogged over with the condensation of a hundred dancing bodies.

At last, The Last Prom played. It was their first ever public gig, and they played to a hungry, eager, sweaty audience of jazzed-up zombies, plague-bearers and street prophets.

photos: holly orkin

All of a sudden, while the band was still playing, the doors opened and people began to slowly walk out of the space – hand in hand.

Apparently The Last Prom required everyone to take the hand of someone and depart while they played – the result was really beautiful and kinda hypnotic. And then the audience were out on the street, and no one had been hurt and nothing had been stolen.

DAVID FINNIGAN READ THE EXTENDED REVIEW AT www.bmamag.com

49

GIG GUIDE March 16 - March 19 wednesday march 16

thursday march 17

Cheese (‘80s/Retro)

Arts

dance

Your monthly fix of all things retro and ‘80s. Come get some of that classic cheesy goodness.

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!

Open Decks

Timber

Wild. WILD! 7.30pm, free.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Alliance Française French Film Festival

8pm.

LOT 33

Ashley Feraude

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

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

Live

Varilaku

HIPPO LOUNGE

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Micheal Hazzann

Pacific Arts from the Solomon Islands.

‘Til May 29. Free.

St Patrick’s Day

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

EUCALYPT LAWNS, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS

National Photographic Portrait Prize

Open Mic Night

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

‘Til April 26.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

42nd Street

Shayne Hunter

Regular feature at Brisbane’s Sit-Down Comedy Club. Supported by an array of local acts. $10.

POT BELLY BAR

With Annodomini, The Automata and Nemesphyxia.

THE BASEMENT

Live at the Sculpture Garden Feat. Sammy J followed by Jackie Marshall and The James Valentine Quartet. Nga.gov.au .

Nathalie Natiembé

St Patrick’s Day

Andy Irvine and Rens van der Zalm

Irish Sessions.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Apocalyptic dirges in a sandpaper baritone and a battered porkpie hat.

With Drew Walky and Jacinta.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Irish Folk

5.30pm, free ($10 with tapas).

Bookings essential.

THE STREET THEATRE

With Cassidy’s Ceili. 7.30pm, $25/$22/$18.

THE MERRY MUSE

The First Degree Tour

Bag Raiders, Muscles, Jinja Safari and more. Tix through Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Fir Croi and Chicago Charles.

Stu King Duo

St Patrick’s Days

Enlighten: Chris Isaak

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Traditional Irish music from Fred Pilcher from 4-6pm. Classic hits from No Idea from 6-9pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

CASINO CANBERRA

Only Canberra show. enlightencanberra. com .

COMMONWEALTH PLACE

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Acoustic Soup

Bearded fellas bashing out slightly macabre tunes.

THE FOOD CO-OP

Head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

Graveyard Train TRANSIT BAR

St Patrick’s Day

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

We R Here 2!

Feat. Sidestepper, direct from Colombia, playing the urban latino laneway party.

NEW ACTON PRECINCT

St Practice Day With Cassidy Celi.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

You Are Here Festival

Head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

The Yearlings

Brooding country folk playing selections from their new record Sweet Runaway.

7.30pm, $10.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

friday march 18 Arts

Featuring Queen Juanita & the Zydeco Cowboys. 8pm, free.

Israel Cannan

With Pete Akhurst in support. 8pm, $10.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Killing The Sound

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Capital Punishment Festival Fundraiser

Canberra’s finest comedians and Mission Twin-Possible. Free from 8pm, donations welcome.

THE RED HERRING

Blast!

Lavers

THE PLAYHOUSE

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE BOOKSHOP

Omar Musa, Adam Hadley, DJ Rush, Kodak, Indigo and more. canberratheatrecentre.com.au .

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

Lights! Canberra! Action!

You Are Here Festival

GAREMA PLACE

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Screening of the top 12 finalists and award ceremony from 7.30pm.

Dance

Head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

saturday march 19

Xena Hawkins - viola. 12.40.

Touch of Soul (930)

Arts

Ben Marston

HIPPO LOUNGE

Ministry of Sound Clubber’s Guide to 2011

One Man Lord of the Rings

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE HIPPO LOUNGE

Something Different Fame Trivia / $5 Night

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

TRANSIT BAR

50

Urban Playground

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

MONKEY BAR

Rev

Your weekly indie/alt dance party. $5.

BAR 32

Faux Real

Raunchy Rock ‘n’ Hop Fest

Free entertainment. Fir Croi traditional Irish folk music, Cassidy’s Ceili foot stomping and more.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Gemma Nourse, Beth’n’Beth, James Fahy. 6.30pm, $8.50/$7 (members/ students - includes soup).

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

St. Patrick’s Day

Live

POT BELLY BAR

With Ashley Feraude.

Live

Free live from music 8pm.

You Are Here Festival

And friends. $5, 8pm.

Academy Saturdays

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

POT BELLY BAR

Pro Blues & Roots Acoustic Jam

Shayne Hunter

HIPPO LOUNGE

FELT BAR

Jason Webley

Comedy

Norse

Mario Gordon

Chicago Charles

Master & Servant

COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

Live

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

9pm, free.

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

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

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Nathan Frost

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

ERINDALE THEATRE, WANNIASSA

TRANSIT BAR

Dance

With Tom Piper.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

MOS Clubbers Guide to 2011 With Tom Piper. Pre sale tix on now.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Felt Grand Opening

Ft. Ashley Feraude and Jayo.

FELT BAR

One nerd to perform the whole trilogy!

Not to be missed if you’re a LOTR fan.

Tix through the venue.

THE PLAYHOUSE

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival Love Crime (2010, MA15+). 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

7.30pm.

THE MARAM, ERINDALE CENTRE

Live at the Sculpture Garden

Feat. Felicity Ward followed by Deni Hines and The James Valentine Quartet.

Nga.gov.au .

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

The Rebound Slapdown

Mushmellow, West of the Sun. THE PHOENIX PUB

Raven

Doors 7pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Frequently Asked Questions CASINO CANBERRA

Enlighten: Frankie Valli Only Australian show! enlightencanberra.com .

COMMONWEALTH PLACE

Rafe and The Well Dressed

Invite you to listen to music and film a film clip! 8pm, by donation.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Oscar

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Stuttershine

New chamber works by young composer and improviser Austin Buckett. Bookings essential.

THE STREET THEATRE

You Are Here Festival

Head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

D’Opus & Roshambo Album Pre-Release Show

With Raw City Ruckus and The Rock Steady. Previewing brand new material. $10 on the door.

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different Carry On Karaoke From 10pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Roller Derby

CRDL Vice City Rollers v. VRDL All Stars.

5.30pm.

AIS ARENA

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GIG GUIDE March 20 - March 26 sunday march 20 Arts 2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival Yves Saint Laurent - Pierre Berge: L’Amour Fou (2010, G). 2pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival

Something Different Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds Hurt yourself on the weekend? Need dem wounds to be nursed? Monday night at Transit is all yours.

TRANSIT BAR

Buddhist Meditation Classes Drop-in any week. Class fee $14.

For details call 9387 7717 or www. meditateincanberra.org .

WESLEY CHURCH

The Princess of Montpensier (2010, MA15+). 4.30pm.

tuesday march 22

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

comedy

Live

Open Mic Comedy Night

Sunday Best

The Queen Juanita Trio. 5-7pm, free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Sunday Sessions On The Deck The Chris Harland Blues Band. 2pm, free.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Daniel Champagne

Australian guitar-slinging troubadour touring his first full length album Pint of Mystery. 7.30pm.

It’s Frontilicious. The most friendly open mic crowd in Canberra. 7.30pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Bootlegs

THE PHOENIX PUB

Plugged In – Heat 2

Mudpie Princess, Critical Monkee, Makeshift. 8pm, free.

MOOSEHEADS PUB

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Ben Marston HIPPO LOUNGE

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

friday march 25

Something Different Fame Trivia / $5 Night

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

dance Frankie Madrid

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

TRANSIT BAR

DJ Rush

Politics in the Pub

Purple Sneakers

THE PHOENIX PUB

thursday march 24

HIPPO LOUNGE

Randall Stagg + Benlucid, Architect DJs, Less Than Three, Celebrity Sex Tape. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different

Jayo

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

Works by 7 eclectic artist, 3 boys, 4 girls, loosely tied to a theme of masculine/feminine identity THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

THE CLUBHOUSE FELT BAR

Live Kiwi G

beerandbubs.com.au.

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival

Trivia Night

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

THE PHOENIX PUB

Dance

Panama Jim Duo

Jemist

Friday Night Acoustic Series

THE MARAM, ERINDALE CENTRE

Sammy Conscious, Greg Carlin, Jacquie Nicole, The Feldons.

Robert Schmidli – piano. 12.40.

Special K

Girls Vs Boys

Irish Chill Out Sessions

live

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

THE PHOENIX PUB

Juice Box

Beer and Bubs

monday march 21

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Hannah Gillespie.

TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Hypnotic, seductive, sprawling tales of passion, love and loss. Supported by Michael Bones 7.30pm.

POT BELLY BAR

Arts

TRANSIT BAR

Season of Song, Concert 2. Tales from a Gypsy Caravan. Tickets at the door.

3pm.

The Wildes

Wolves At The Door

9pm, free.

Tix though Ticketek.

Karaoke Love

Art Song Canberra

POT BELLY BAR

8pm, free.

Luka Bloom

Peter Blissenden

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Open Mic Night

Live

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Classic hits from 7-10pm.

Fun Machine and The Monotremes

Every Tuesday!

wednesday march 23 comedy Jason Byrne

Cirque du Byrne. Jaw achingly funny!

Tix: canberratheatrecentre.com.au .

THE PLAYHOUSE

Live

Empire of Mid-South (2010, G). 7pm.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Free live from music 8pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Spruce Moose 8.30-11.30pm.

OLD CANBERRA INN CASINO CANBERRA

Open Decks

Featuring Brett Hunt (Sydney). 8pm, free.

LOT 33

Steady the Fall

8pm.

DJ Shmee

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

FELT BAR

Psychic Asylum, West of the Sun, Little Saturn. 6pm, free.

Live

Leah Flanagan

Sparkadia

WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

8pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

With Dan Kelly. Strange tour. Tix through Ticketek.

With Operator Please and Alpine. The Great Impression tour. Tix through Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Luka Bloom

Velvet

Tix though Ticketek.

HIPPO LOUNGE

TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE

Luka Bloom

Tix though Ticketek.

Arts

Hippo Live: Aron Lyon Quartet

TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE

TaikOz: Shifting Sand

Gareth Liddiard

HIPPO LOUNGE

Heuristic

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

saturday march 26

Bookings through the venue.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

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GIG GUIDE March 26 - April 02 2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival On Tour (2010, MA15+). 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival

National Vintage Guitar and Amp Ex

Fiona Boyes, Don Morrison, Chris Johnson, Steve Russell and more. $10 weekend pass. Zot.com.au .

STATESMAN HOTEL, CURTIN

On Tour (2010, MA15+). 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Dance

sunday march 27 Arts

Ashley Feraude

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival

Nick Skitz

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

FELT BAR

With DJ Starry, DJ Adzy, DJ Happy and DJ Robbie Blaze. Tix $25 through the venue.

P J O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

Jemist & D’Opus

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Rowan (Faux Real)

Just A Beginning (2010, G). 2pm.

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival The Arrivals (2010, G). 4.30pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Live

Doctor Werewolf

Irish Chill Out Sessions

THE CLUBHOUSE

Academy Saturdays With Matt Nukewood.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Own It

Youth Week exhibition. ‘Til April 15.

Official opening Thursday Mar 31 6pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Humbug

Celtic band. 1-3pm.

Something Different Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds Hurt yourself on the weekend? Need dem wounds to be nursed? Monday night at Transit is all yours.

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival

Fame Trivia

Free entry, over $100 worth of PJ’s vouchers up for grabs. Bookings are essential.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Dance

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Slugabed [UK] THE CLUBHOUSE

Arts

Live

The Marriage of Figaro

Open Mic Night

Something Different

David Pereira Cello Series

THE PHOENIX PUB

Karaoke Love

Program 1 - Primarosa Players. 2pm.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Sunday Sessions on the Deck With Owen Campbell. 2pm, free.

TRANSIT BAR

Special K

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Black Creek

Midnight Woolf, The Yard Apes.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Quartessence Trio CASINO CANBERRA

The Ellis Collective

Means What it Means album launch with Mikelangelo, Vorn Doolette and Tom Woodward. Thestreet.gov.au THE STREET THEATRE

Tokken, Life & Limb, Venomeyes. From 7.30pm.

Hosted by the Working Group for Aboriginal Rights Canberra.

Fiona Boyes, Don Morrison, Chris Johnson, Steve Russell and more. $10 weekend pass. Zot.com.au .

STATESMAN HOTEL, CURTIN

Something Different

monday march 28

Carry On Karaoke From 10pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

live Bootlegs

Jonathan Fisher, Monka, Runaway Skyline, Meraki.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Oceanics

Tales in Space, The Kahnz.

THE PHOENIX PUB

dance Silent Disco

Every Tuesday!

Flea Markets

National Vintage Guitar and Amp Ex

POT BELLY BAR

friday april 01

Trivia Night

THE PHOENIX PUB

THE PHOENIX PUB

9pm, free.

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

Something Different From noon to 3pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Of Gods and Men (2010, MA15+).

7pm.

Loveshy

Live

With Attila the Stockbroker.

WESLEY CHURCH

THE STREET THEATRE

MONKEY BAR

The Go Set

Arts

Drop-in any week. Class fee $14.

For details call 9387 7717 or www. meditateincanberra.org .

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

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

Sunday Best

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Buddhist Meditation Classes

The Gossips. 5-7pm, free.

Urban Playground

Watussi

thursday march 31

TRANSIT BAR

New sparkling and racy chamber production of one of the best–loved of all operas. Thestreet.org.au .

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

HIPPO LOUNGE

7pm.

tuesday march 29

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Hippo Live: Greg Stott Trio

Lantern Making Peace Vigil

Dress up party: construction workers.

Tix on sale now at the venue.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Live

MOOSEHEADS PUB

John Waters - Looking Through a Glass Onion

wednesday march 30

Dinner and show $79, 6.30pm. Show only $45, 8.30pm.

Arts

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB WODEN

The Marriage of Figaro

New sparkling and racy chamber production of one of the best–loved of all operas. Thestreet.org.au .

saturday april 02

THE STREET THEATRE

Arts

Live

2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Bradley Kunda - classical guitar. 12.40.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

The Clink of Ice (2010, MA15+). 7pm.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

national folk OUT festival mar 30 british india architecture in helsinki bliss n eso ...and more!

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FIRST CONTACT

SIDE A: BMA band profile

PETE AKHURST Group members: Just me for the moment, looking to expand the band line-up.

Describe your sound: The storytelling of Paul Kelly with the instrumental sounds of John Butler.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? They chop and change, but I would have to say Frank Turner, Chuck Ragan, Joe Purdy and The Ellis Collective’s new album has been getting high rotation in my car. They’re all making a big impact on my music at the moment.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing? Playing at The Phoenix midway through 2010 I had a lovely couple sitting on the couches just to the left of the stage. Throughout my entire performance from start to finish they were making out. The pash rash on her face was intense! Hopefully it was the music that evoked such passion in both of them.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Supporting Ash Grunwald to a sold out Transit Bar in July 2010. Also playing completely acoustically to a few dozen people at the Hush Lounge earlier this year was good fun too. The PA broke so I had to improvise and it turned out quite well.

What are your plans for the future? Finally releasing the EP in late May. Stay tuned to the Facebook page for more details on that and I’m also releasing with that the film clip to my song Sister as well.

What makes you laugh? A lot of things really, I couldn’t pinpoint just one.

What pisses you off? Long drives when your iPod runs out of battery midway through the trip.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? The local scene is like one big family, so like any great family let’s support it the best we can.

What are your upcoming gigs? Friday March 18, supporting Israel Cannan at The Front in Lyneham. Doors at 7.30pm, $10 entry.

Contact info: peteakhurst@gmail.com www.myspace.com/peteakhurst www.facebook.com/peteakhurstmusic www.youtube.com/pakhurstmusic

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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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