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Architecture in Helsinki Go on a bender #368 MAR31
Creole Choir of Cuba Heroes of Haiti!
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Blue King Brown at ANU Bar
Berocca is not a breakfast food.
# 3 6 8 M A R 3 0 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 369 OUT APRIL 13 EDITORIAL DEADLINE APRIL 4 ADVERTISING DEADLINE APRIL 7 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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According to Carlos Santana, Blue King Brown are “…the voice of the street and the band of the future.” They’re pleased to announce dates for their first national Australian headline tour in 18 months to officially launch their new album Worldwize Part 1 North & South. Master musicians of the live circuit, the band is primed to showcase their adrenalising grooves from the highly acclaimed Worldwize album, and remain committed to take their adoring audience on a real life sonic journey, flowing with modern international inspirations from Jamaica and beyond. Joined by Melbourne based African hip-hop artists Diafrix, they’ll be at ANU Bar on Thursday May 12. Tickets through Ticketek.
Eat Skull and Slug Guts at Phoenix Portland, Oregon four-piece Eat Skull are merchants of the perfect pop song in their own frantic-fuzzy-beach-punk way. These guys take absolute pop gems and bury them in a murky heap of lo-fi fuzz, forcing listeners to open their ears and pick out the gold inside. Slug Guts hail from the heat stricken confines of Brisbane, and after garnering huge levels of hype for their first album Down on the Meat, the band went straight to the studio and emerged with their second long player, Howlin’ Gang. Catch them at Phoenix on Sunday April 10.
John Waters’ Looking Through a Glass Onion John Waters’ critically acclaimed production Looking Through a Glass Onion has been selling out venues around the country, and is showing at Southern Cross Club Woden on Friday April 1. An homage to the music, mystery and memory of John Lennon, the production has been resonating with audiences
and media alike. With 2010 marking what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday and also the 30th anniversary of his assassination, now is a special time for fans and the show is either a trip down memory lane or a wonderful introduction to the life and times of one of the most fascinating icons of our time. Head to cscc.com.au or call 6283 7288 for bookings.
The Bell Parade at The Front Previously parading under the name The Attachments, The Bell Parade started making noise in Melbourne in 2004. Honing their unique style of well-crafted lyrics teamed with nostalgic and beautifully-layered melodies, the four-piece developed a sound that has been likened to pure pop perfectionists The Lemonheads. Let’s Make ‘em Like That Anymore is their impressive debut. Masterfully self-produced, with final mixing done by Tim Johnston (The Waifs, Spazzys), The Bell Parade’s charismatic first album will keep ringing warmly in your ears long after you hear it and is sure to be grounds for their victory march. Hear it live at The Front on Saturday April 9 with Julia and The Deep Sea Sirens in support. 8pm.
BMA PRESENTS GIGMUND FREUD Multi-talented whiz kid Travis H Heinrich has started a monthly night of live music at Phoenix called Gigmund Freud. Lolz. They’re happening on the second Wednesday of every month at Phoenix and each line-up is booked (or curated by, if you swing that way) a local record label, establishment
or individual. On Wednesday April 13 it’s BMA’s turn! So, for your aural and ocular pleasure, we present to you, dear readers, a night of apocalyptic proportions. To kick off the rundown here’re a few words from second-on-the-bill, nozl: “During recent months there has been growing concern within the ACT and SE NSW regarding the nozl movement. Whilst intentionally lowercase and consequently sub-literate (Bison 2009, Temperman 2010), the anti-subversive elements of nozl (Banner 2011 pers. comm) have been developing pince-nez with little regard to the formal democratic process. nozl guru Tom h’Wood states the “neo-nozl outlet is like grain in a bag: granular, secular, potentially hallucinogenic if infected with ergot...” Want to know what that was all about? Then you better get down to Phoeno on April 13. We’ll give you three other reasons to though, cos we’re nice like that. Locally illustrious merchants of madness Fun Machine will also be there (limber up kids, you’re in for a mighty workout), as will - in what we reckon is a bit of a coup - You Are Here supergroup The Last Prom. Yes, you read right, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Anti-Christ, Famine and co have kindly agreed to head north from the underworld to play their second ever show and headline our Gigmund Freud. Bless their razor-sharp cheekbones. And the third reason? There’ll be a Mystery Opening Act (which translates to editor Julia’s been out slaying deadline dragons and is yet to lock one in). Who will it be? Come and have a beer or two with the BMA crew and find out. Famine of The Last Prom (aka Julia Johnson of Julia and The Deep Sea Sirens)
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FROM THE BOSSMAN
YOU PISSED ME OFF!
This issue I’m breaking away from my usual self-deprecating shenanigans and diving into a newly-created and occasionallyappearing series called Spare a Thought, where I will shine a light on some oft-overlooked and misunderstood roles in our industry. To kick things off, I give you… the Graphic Designer.
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]
The Graphic Designer (or GD) plays a crucial role, and yet they are perennially plagued by gaudy expectations and unrealistic deadlines. Without GDs logos wouldn’t exist, colours would lay in abandoned puddles, magazines would cease to be. To dumb it down a shade, you wouldn’t be seein’ shit. Now many of you will well know that the art of graphic design requires many a talent – there’s the artistic flair needed (a sense of form and function, space and colouring, and a knowledge of when to let an alcoholsoaked editor sleep it off rather than ask for feedback); 100s nay 1000s of hours of software skills on Photoshop, Illustrator, Maxi-Pad, Jingle-Splat and various other digital creative tools; and, of course, time. Lots and lots of time. However, there seems there are many people who don’t realise this.
To the two carloads of singlet-sporting dentist-dodging morons at the cnr of Alinga/Bunda St tormenting the poor car in front of them by trying to beep them through a red light... You Pissed Me Off. O sure, you redneck, buck-toothed knuckle scraping excuses for pond life might be all big and tough in your pack, but on your own my dead grandmother could school you. I’m sure you P-plate sporting fucktards had occasionally-appearing fathers that would put their cigarette butts out on your already tarnished features, and mothers that looked like one of the failed clones from Alien 4, but that does not give you the right to torment innocent people trying to get on with lives that are clearly lightyears better than yours. If you choke on your next methadone hit, the world won’t miss you.
Many regard graphic design as both quick and easy. These are usually the same people that phone up a computer help line only to discover they haven’t plugged it in yet. The reason for this phenomenon is that when graphic design is done well, it looks effortless, like it has always existed, and someone has merely come across it. A writer is a luckier creature in this regards. The Great Unwashed tend to think the amount of time it takes to ‘read’ a work equates to the amount of time taken to create it. A 1000 word article? “Oooooo farkin’ ‘ell. Look at all dem fancy wordz ‘n’ shit,” they’ll spit, before using said article as toilet paper. And a piece of graphic design that takes a few seconds to absorb? “Well shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit… I coulda done that. That ain’t nuffin’ but colours. ‘N’ shit.”
For fuck’s sake, how much rubbish is there around these days? Did the Canberra Festival include a fucking Litter Fiesta or something? Surely your mothers told you... if you drop litter, you’re an arse clown. So stop being an arse clown.
The greatest sufferance is thus: while not everyone is a GD, everyone thinks they are, to the point that they expect GDs to possess telekinetic powers. “Do you want anything in particular for your artwork?” a wide-eyed GD will ask of their client. “A certain colour theme? Logos? A main image?” // “No, no… Go for your life,” the client will say. Which wouldn’t be so bad, right? Except that this usually happens… After spending many an hour lovingly lacing together a beautiful piece of design – ploughing the fertile depths of a seasoned mind to conjure colour and shapes to craft a masterly piece of wizard-like wonder, cycling through proof after proof until it’s just right – the usual client reaction is along the lines of, “No, no, NO! Not in blue! I wanted Lurid Orange! And where are the logos I didn’t send you? And it doesn’t have nearly enough text; we have a whole 1/32 of a page to play with, let’s fill it with as many words as possible to let people know what we’re about. And make it Comic Sans, that’s a jazzy font that should really pop off the page.” But it doesn’t end there. The long-suffering GD goes away, painstakingly makes all the new ludicrous changes only to hear, “Actually I prefer it in blue after all. And can you add these logos I didn’t give you before? And make the text Arial instead. Much jazzier. Get it to me within the hour. Ta.” And with a govvie piece with multiple approvals, all you need is some git in upper-middlelower-upper management to decide he wants the Aqua Blue to be more of a Melancholy Grape and it’s back to square one. And all for the sum of a New England Ha’Penny. So next time you need to render the services of a Graphic Designer, remember this simple mantra… You’re not one. So show some respect. ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com
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another thing…
Even though I’d only worked there a year, I’d gleaned enough with my own eyes, and by chatting to my predecessor in the job, Hamish, to know that there was an awful lot of Wayne’s life that Rhona had absolutely no idea about at all. As she thundered up the stairs, kids in tow, telling all in the building what she was going to do with Wayne when she got hold of him, I secreted the grease-smeared envelope behind the curtain and tried to look relaxed. The stairs had taken a bit of the wind out of Rhona’s sails, and she staggered through the door, holding Oliver, her youngest, under one arm and dragging Nirvana, the oldest but still only three, in her wake. “Where the fucking hell is he, Micky?” I pointed at the phone on the desk and lied. “He can’t have gone far, he’s left his phone here.” She picked up the mobile and her eyes devoured the list of recently dialed numbers. I knew she’d get nothing from it that was any use, and decided to make a few soothing noises. Or at least noises to take her mind off things. I ran through a list of jobs that needed doing that I wouldn’t have the authority to do. “They can fucking wait. I don’t care if Facemeat’s shirts are still at the printers. I don’t care about the Heart Police and their stupid charity show and its lack of a PA which is still in Wayne’s lockup, I-“ And then she broke down and started sobbing. Which made Oliver cry. Nirvana, who for some reason had always liked me, came and sat on my lap and buried her face in my chest. Fucking hell. After about five minutes of this Rhona seemed to have got it out of her system, and calmed down sufficiently to take charge of the situation. She’d deal with Wayne later. My part of the deal was to make sure Bobby was OK. I agreed to drive out to his house the next day to make sure he was ok and had everything he needed; hopefully by then Wayne would have realised what a fool he’d been and come to his senses. Or so Rhona thought. Knowing better, it was with a fair amount of trepidation that I drove out to Bobby’s country retreat that morning. I’d had no further word from Wayne, and I was hoping that he wouldn’t have contacted Bobby because Bobby would have panicked and rung Rhona, and then Christ knows what would have happened… That was 18 months ago. And Wayne still hasn’t come back. Actually I don’t know if that’s true or not. Like Lord Lucan, his disappearance has sparked a cottage industry of sightings and theories stemming from those sightings. The most popular has been that he’s reentered the country and is working as a painter and decorator in Elephant & Castle. I have no idea. After I’d sold his flat for him the slightly surreal phone calls stopped the moment I’d wired him the proceeds. And now I’m here, driving Bobby Shrubbs, lead singer and songwriting prime mover of seventies heavy rock legends Godhammer, to the pub for his regular lunchtime session at his local, The Bishop of Clairvaux. Of course when we “go for a pint” I don’t actually get to have a pint, because I’m driving. Last year, on my birthday, Bobby offered to drive so I could have a drink, but I spent the rest of the afternoon digging the Range Rover out of a ditch after he panicked when he saw two men shooting clay pigeons and assumed they were coming for him, and he hasn’t offered since. I can always have a can of beer back at the house later, right? Next time – Danish TV and some home improvements… scott adams - thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com
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WHO: Tin Can Radio WHAT: Indie-dance/artrock WHEN: Sat April 16 WHERE: Transit Bar
Explosive Brisbane indie-dance/art-rock five-piece, Tin Can Radio, are celebrating the release of their debut LP Chase the Sun, Hold the Night with a 20 date Australian tour. Chase the Sun… runs a knife edge between accessible and fun, and ambitious and sonically challenging; journeying through dreamy landscapes, sing-along hooks, punchy guitar driven riffs and grinding dubstep breakdowns. The band have managed to attain exactly what they set out to achieve; a recording which captures the dynamics and infectious energy of their live show. With local disco scoundrels Readable Graffiti in support it’s set to be a scintillating night. Doors at 9pm, free.
WHO: Eric Bibb WHAT: Modern-day troubadour WHEN: Tues-Wed April 12-13 WHERE: Tilley’s Devine Café
For four decades, singer-songwriter-guitarist Eric Bibb has crisscrossed the globe, captivating audiences by bearing witness to the infinite complexities of the human experience with music that’s steeped in the tradition of American blues and layered with generous shades of folk and gospel. He is, in every respect, a modern-day troubadour – heir to the legacy of Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and countless other great voices of the early and mid-20th century. In duo mode for the Australian tour, Eric will be accompanied by beautiful Swedish guitarist Staffan Astner, (Ray Charles, Kim Richey) who is also featured on Troubadour Live. Tix through the venue.
WHO: Fernanda Takai WHAT: All For Japan Benefit Concert WHEN: Tues April 19 WHERE: The Playhouse
One of the most unique singers of Brazil’s contemporary music scene, Brazilian songstress of Japanese descent Fernanda Takai is coming to Australia for the first time to share what critics have called some of the most delicate and intelligent music of our time. Fernanda is better known as the lead vocalist of Brazilian band Pato Fu, who in 2001 were listed as one of the Ten Best Bands In The World by Time Magazine. Wowzers. With a strong Japanese heritage, Fernanda will be donating a portion of ticket sales to the Japanese Red Cross to assist victims of the recent disasters. Tickets through canberraticketing.com.au .
WHO: Vintage Vinyl WHAT: Record Day Fair WHERE: Landspeed Records WHEN: Sat Apr 16, from 10am
Ahoy there, dusty-fingered members of the Canberra populace! It is time for the annual Record Day Fair, a chance to sell your old wares and eagerly ruffle through 1000s of vinyl across all those genres you love – rock, pop, indie, jazz, soul, blues, hip-hop, metal, punk, ska, handbag pasodoble, prog twat and more. Did you know, in this digital age, vinyl sales actually rose in 2009? That’s because life sounds better on vinyl, baby. So saddle up and get to Landspeed in Garema Place, because you just know that guy is going to be there just before you snapping up all the good stuff, and you can’t have that.
WHO: 4SOUND Productions WHAT: Local electronic wizardry WHERE: The Deck at Regatta Point WHEN: Sat Apr 2, from 6pm
Local dance promo outfit 4SOUND are set to make good use of the glittering views and soaring sonics of The Deck at Regatta Point to exhibit some of the best electronic sounds Canberra has to offer. Featuring the smooth-yet-banging stylings of firm favourites DJ Rush (6pm), Ashley Feraude (7pm), Burnie Mac (8:30pm), B-Tham (9:30pm), Team Wing (10:30pm) and 2Hyped (midnight), the event serves as either a perfect evening settler, or as a warm up to the kind of Saturday that sees you calling in sick on Monday. Tix are $15 on the door, and there’s 2-for-1 entry before 8pm. Food and drink will be available at the venue.
WHO: Mind Over Matter WHAT: Hip-hoppers, beat droppers WHEN: Thurs April 7 WHERE: ANU Bar
Following a massive single tour at the end of 2010, Mind Over Matter will be returning to the stage with a whole new live set and special guests including Coptic Soldier and Johnny Utah. Their new LP Just Like Fireworks is a generous offering from local Sydney duo MCs Willow and Smiles and features an array of guests including Pigeon John, Vida-Sunshyne, Ernst Carter Jnr and Drakezilla and Saving Grace. With a reputation for giving it their all at every show, Mind Over Matter tear up the stage demanding even more from their fans. Tix through mindovermattercrew.com .
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LIFE BEGINS AT 45! BEN HERMANN It’s an oft-muttered observation among seasoned locals that Autumn and Spring exhibit our wonderful city at its best. Indeed, at this very moment Canberrans are enjoying the onset of the former – the mountains of foliage that have flourished brilliantly under seven months of drought-breaking rains are now turning vibrant shades of yellow, orange and red; the nights are turning crisp and cosy; direct sunlight is welcomed rather than cursed; microwaved doughnuts take on a whole new meaning; and, of course, comes THE NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL. The musical ensalda mixta that the NFF always guarantees to patrons will be more than enough nourishment for some, but others will be even more thrilled to see the return of The Majestic. Only in its second year, it’s the NFF’s testament to the weird and wonderful, to music, theatre and other miscellaneous performances lying somewhat closer to the no-man’s-land of what the NFF would has c esti Maj The been at the festival usually serve up.
for years in spirit, it’s just that now all of the weird bits and pieces have been scooped up and crammed in a circus big top
Never one to shy away from coordinated masochism, the spectacular Adam Hadley has returned as The Majestic’s Artistic Director. Obviously encouraged by the fact that during The Majestic’s 2010 debut his “hair didn’t fall out” and “nothing caught on fire”, Hadley and the team have expanded The Majestic for 2011, allowing for more acts and, importantly, a larger crowd. “We can fit more people in the tent!” Hadley enthuses. “The weird little mutant Majestic Village is expanding. So as well as The Majestic, the chain tent, and the Lola the Gypsy Caravan from last year, we also have the wonderful circus venue The Bally, and some great stalls. The circus program is expanding as well to include The Circus Firemen doing an hour show, as well as the variety vaudeville show Circus Hokum.” This expansion will no doubt be sound relief to many revellers. Last year the stage reached capacity on several occasions, surpassing even the greatest expectations of organisers. “I manned the doors along with the stage management crew for those nights, and it was pretty heart-breaking to have to turn people away,” Hadley recalls. “However, the wonderful Mark Robinson who owns The Majestic tent is building us all new and exciting seating (what’s the definition of ‘exciting’ seating? Does it have a bump sticking up in the middle? – Bossman), so we should be able to fit 100-plus extra people into the same size tent, meaning the same crazy dancing and circus can go on, whilst still keeping those intimate moments.” Once again, local talent will play a big part of The Majestic, with Julia & The Deep Sea Sirens, Drew Walky, The Wedded Bliss,
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Hashemoto, and Rafe & The Well Dressed all gracing the stage over the weekend. “And Midnight Mayhem,” adds Hadley, “and Matty Ellis doing The Band Broke Up (in which musos tell stories in addition to playing), and also Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!” From beyond our borders will come The Crooked Fiddle Band, Bygone Error and, for their first time in Canberra, Flap! (pictured above) – a group self-described as sounding like “a bunch of travelling musicians from olden day rural America who somehow found a time machine and ended up at a Kylie Minogue concert.” The group’s ever-gorgeous front-woman and vocalist Jess Guille is especially looking forward to their performance at the NFF, citing festivals as her ideal gig experience. “There is something about the vibe of a festival crowd; they are already in the mode to giving themselves over to the fun,” she says. The group’s heady influence of 1920s jazz, English folk, Trinidadian calypso, coupled with vocals of a distinctly Australian timbre is the product of the diverse number of projects that its members are involved in. Vocalist and trumpeter Eamon McNelis is involved in Zulray and City City City; double bassist Mark Elton with C.W. Stoneking; drummer Ben Hendry with Shane Warne the Musical; and Don Stewart with the Band Who Knew Too Much. Despite such an array of styles to incorporate, Guille says that there are rarely creative differences within the group. “Every new idea is only an extension of ‘our sound’, so it kinda flows,” she says, adding that their versatility and diversity allows them to master various types of audiences. “The difference between playing to a sit-down crowd of serious jazz lovers is fairly separated from the drunken happy dancing crowds we play to a fair bit,” she adds. “All my bandmates are very accomplished improvisers so it makes for some very unpredictable happenings!” Such versatility will no doubt come in handy when performing at The Majestic. Although perceived by some as ‘the new kid on the block’ (with the NFF now in its 45th year), Hadley points out that it wasn’t necessarily just the whippersnappers that suckled at the NFF’s newest teat last year. “I think it gave a lot of people, especially younger people, who feel a bit lost at the festival a place to go… although primarily thought of as a ‘youthish’ (it’s a word) venue, the age range and audience demographic was huge.” In addition to the eclectic make-up of the crowd, punters may also be treated to those magical moments that can never be planned. “One of my highlights from last year was when Matty Ellis’ guitar stopped working with the PA so he clambered into the audience and played a song acoustically while the sound crew fixed everything,” Hadley recalls. “The Majestic has been at the festival for years in spirit, it’s just that now all of the weird bits and pieces have been scooped up and crammed in a circus big top.” The 2011 National Folk Festival will be held from 21-25 April at Exhibition Park. The extensive program and tickets are available at www.folkfestival.asn.au .
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LOCALITY David Finnigan, Creative Producer of You Are Here. What a dude: What did you feel on the night of Sunday March 20, when the You Are Here program came to a close? After one of the epic party jams on Out Hud’s S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D., one of the vocalists sighs and says “okay, let’s do the next one,” and off they go into another 13 minutes of breathless fucked up dancery. That. What were your highlights? Personal favourites – the Overhead Projector Jam was some fucking zen bliss out action; Roasters After-Hours Barrage was one of the most fun spoken word events I’ve ever been to or participated in in my life, for a lot of reasons; Lee Grant’s Belco Pride exhibition was amazing and I loved dancing with a bunch of smarmy fucking 15 year olds at FridgeFire on Saturday night. Once they grasped how important it was that they act sober (even if you are sober, act sober), they had the best moves on the dancefloor – and they were all blown away by the concept of the mash-up. ‘HOW DID HE MAKE THE DARTH VADER MARCH AND THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS’ GALVANISE INTO ONE SONG?’ Magic, kids, that’s what’s going on there. Also, it was rad getting the chance to temporarily kill the party when we were invaded by 25 aggressive 16-year-old boys unsure of their place in the world. It’s always more fun to shut down an event than to run it peacefully, and there’s nothing like seeing your security guard mobbed by a swarm of high school jocks with faux-hawks to give you the adrenaline you need for some serious fucking dancing. How has YAH changed Canberra? Hah. Okay Julia, I’ll bite. YOU ARE HERE CHANGED THE FACE OF CANBERRA’S ARTS SCENE BECAUSE IT’S NOT LIKE PEOPLE ARE DOING WHAT WE JUST DID ALL THE TIME, ALL OVER THE CITY, EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, EVERY WEEKEND, BUSTING OUT UNIQUE STRANGE SHIT CONSTANTLY WITHOUT RECOGNITION OR SUPPORT. Oh, and Canberra has never had an event like YAH before, not even in the ‘90s when this sort of shit apparently happened all the fucking time. We didn’t reinvent the wheel AT ALL. And Hadley’s great grandmother invented the horse. A friend of mine said YAH should run all year. Will it be on again next year? Will there be any satellite events? How can we get a fix? Basically it’s up to people to speak up. If people dug it, or they want more but different, they should get on the YAH website or Facebook page and leave a comment. We’re feeding all the feedback we get to the Centenary for their evaluations, so you’ll definitely get listened to. Anything else you’d like to add? Thank you to everyone. So many thank yous, so many everyone. You guys rule. JULIA WINTERFLOOD julia@bmamag.com
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DANCE THE DROP
I can’t remember the last time I unwrapped a glittery egg shaped snack and consumed its sweet chocolaty entrails in celebration of Easter. There comes a time in a person’s life when the period becomes less about sharing overpriced cocoa products and more about how many hours of drinking you can cram into the double barrelled public holiday. I beseech that the modern day Easter bunny would be more helpful bearing a basket of paracetamol tablets, bacon and egg rolls and king size energy drinks. Now let’s find out how to fuel that nasty hangover, shall we? Monkey Bar has resurfaced as a popular destination for house music connoisseurs thanks to 4Sound Productions’ latest club night. The next event is an all local Easter Thursday (April 21) extravaganza featuring 2HYPED, Kaisen, B-Tham, Team Wing, Bobby Rush and Pedro. Entry is only $5 before midnight. Those of you on the ‘board shorts’ side of NSW will be frothing at the mouth to hear that another epic Stage Fright party is planned at the Merimbula Lake View Hotel on Easter Saturday (April 23). These events are always egg-sactly what the doctor ordered for the bevy of south coast ravers who are usually extremely deprived of regular quality music events. This edition features Scott McMahon (Melb), Team Wing, Moosh, Mick Marshall and Tim Galvin, so why not jump in your car and wring the last little piece of sunshine out of your holiday! Music festivals used to hibernate after the summer season but thanks to climate change and the bulging coffers of major music promoters we now get these wonderful days of overindulgence all year round. One of the biggest up and comers on the scene in the last few years has been the Groovin the Moo Festival at the University of Canberra and the 2011 line-up has all the might of a retaliatory power slam from Casey Heynes. House of Pain, Cut Copy, Datarock, UNKLE, Sampology, Art vs Science, The Aston Shuffle and AC Slater are but a few of the amazing acts scheduled to rock the north side campus this year. Tickets are available from all the usual outlets and are just shy of the $100 mark. I mentioned in the last issue that The Aston Shuffle were releasing their debut album in April. Well, Canberrans can steal an exclusive sneak peek at the long player at the official listening party on (Thursday March 31) at Trinity Bar. Local heroes Cheese and Offtapia will be there to provide light audio refreshments after the festivities conclude. Doors open at 8pm and entry won’t cost you a dime! Academy has a carton of surprises for your April party calendar, beginning with US electro newcomer Drop the Lime on Friday April 8. Horny blowmeister Timmy Trumpet returns with a caseload of brass for the Ministry of Sound Electro House Sessions on Friday April 15 and Naughty By Nature have just been announced as headliners on Friday April 29 – this will be one hot and sweaty hiphop joint that you will not want to miss. Hip Hop Hooray! TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au
myspace.com/pangnight
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matt petherbridge It must be a depressing feeling to move out of Buckingham Palace – at least that’s how ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI multi-instrumentalist vixen Kellie Sutherland feels. After two and a half years of crafting a masterpiece, their fourth album Moment Bends (fifth if you include their 2006 remix album We Died, They Remixed), the band is out on their arse! For those who haven’t worked it out yet, Architecture in Helsinki worked on Moment Bends in their North Brunswick studio space under the watch of a giant poster of Lindsay Buckingham, the man that brought Fleetwood Mac from blues-inflected anonymity into the stream of pop consciousness! “We’ve all been fans of Fleetwood Mac, not just in the ‘rediscovery’ phase but since we were young kids. There’s a sense of nostalgia and romanticism about [Buckingham] as well as their music being so warm and inspiring anyway! He seemed like the right kind of godfather to have overseeing the project,” she giggles.
We’ve all been fans of Fleetwood Mac, not just in the ‘rediscovery’ phase but since we were young kids
After 2008’s That Beat EP, the band was initially anxious to get the album out as Vision Revision, which (strangely) describes exactly what they did! “It just didn’t work creatively, it wasn’t working for the songs and no one was really happy with the process. Because we had our own studio space, it afforded us flexibility and we decided not to rush it,” says Sutherland. She acknowledges Moment Bends is very synth-heavy. “Synth is such an amazing world to get into and the scope for what’s possible is endless. We had quite a few synthesizers around in the studio and we used pretty much all of them!” It’s enabled the band to streamline their live show, putting the kibosh on gigs spent instrument swapping. “We got these sampler synthesizers, the Nord Wave. You can synthesize your samples. We actually took a lot of real sounds from the tracks and put them onto the synthesizers. For example, the robot voices in first single Contact High are one of the many samples that I play live now,” says Sutherland. Hardcore fans of Architecture in Helsinki may be disappointed, but it’s the best decision for the band. “Our live show feels much more focused on the performance and the fact that there’s an audience there in front of you, which is the best part – you get to engage with the audience, rather than if something’s going to come through the speakers or not,” says Sutherland, assured.
The band will hit Canberra as part of the Groovin the Moo Festival in May, something that Sutherland is very excited for. “I can’t believe how long it’s taken for a nationwide festival that only tours to regional areas to take off! Even though Canberra isn’t really a regional area, it’s our capital city; I know that a lot of bands skip past Canberra, so it’s great to have another festival that comes to town. I’m really looking forward to it, even though I’m the only one in the band that’s from the city. Everybody else in the band is a country boy, so they’re definitely happy this festival’s happening and that Architecture in Helsinki is a part of it!” Another important man that featured in the making of Moment Bends was “spiritual healer and co-producer” Francois Tetaz, a producer/film composer and a really close friend of the band. “In the early stages of Moment Bends, Cameron [Bird, singer] was really looking for someone to help him get the demos into songs, someone that would shake it up for him on a creative level with input from outside the band. Francois has always been a part of Architecture in Helsinki on some level,” says Sutherland. Tetaz wrote the score to the chilling 2005 film Wolf Creek, and whilst Sutherland admits she hasn’t seen the film, she has definitely “heard” it. “[Tetaz] had us at his studio when he was composing for the Wolf Creek soundtrack. He turned all the lights off and played the back of a piano with a fork! It was the most thrilling and the most excruciating noise I’d ever heard!” Architecture in Helsinki are no strangers to soundtracking lives. Maybe You Can Owe Me from 2005’s In Case We Die was used in a Lindsay Lohan film I Know Who Killed Me. “From memory, I think Lindsay’s at dinner with the love interest and the song is playing in the background and they are having ‘a moment’ in their relationship,” she laughs. “I haven’t seen the film, but I’ve definitely seen that clip!” The thought of soundtracking Lindsay Lohan’s life sends Sutherland into hysterics. However, she’s fascinated by the impact the band’s music can have on someone else’s life. “Music is so temporal; it only goes for as long as you are listening to it. I love the idea that our music is going to be in somebody else’s life. Like, some people can be in a really tiny town in Norway and they’re listening to music and it will inform the space that they’re in. And for the band, creating it is exactly that, but in reverse. You take in what surrounds you, with our studio and our experiences, our friends and our family, and it becomes the album. It’s definitely a product of our environment, we feel like this is definitely an album that was made in Melbourne.” Catch Architecture in Helsinki live at the Groovin The Moo Festival on Sunday May 8, held at The Meadows at the University of Canberra. Tickets are $99.90 + bf and are available through Moshtix.
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In this instance, it’s Jules’ desire to be ‘in the moment’ more than necessary that unhinges so much in Bill. And this is perhaps as much to do with generational difference as with the fact that, as A Commercial Farce’s Rule No. 3 states, “an idiot can never play an idiot”. “Jules is initially quite unlikeable but his motivation becomes apparent. And the play revolves around two generations of men in a pitched battle. In a way Jules is emblematic of all the perceived worst features of Gen Y and Bill, of Gen X or even Boomers.
ON FARCE VALUE naomi milthorpe There’s a list of Rules of Farce on the Malthouse Theatre website, on the page listing for A COMMERCIAL FARCE, touring to the Canberra Theatre in April. “1: The banana peel is not your enemy. Your mind is your enemy. Trust in the peel and ignore your instincts. 2: The audience want to laugh. If they don’t laugh at the joke, try violence. Violence is funny.” It’s a given in farce that doors will be slammed (in people’s faces), furniture will be run into, and characters will do irremediable violence to themselves or others. And the audience loves it. “As the Australian critic said – ‘nothing is as funny as another person’s pain’… Until of course the other person is you,” says Peter Houghton, writer and lead actor of the show. Houghton plays Bill, a middle-aged theatre veteran investing his savings in a make-or-break production of a classic farce, who is having a few difficulties with his co-star, Jules (Tim Potter). Jules is the star of a hit TV crime show and the one driving ticket sales. But Jules won’t play nice. Insisting on finding his ‘character’, he does not understand the rules of farce. So, with less than 24 hours to go before curtain up, and suffering from the nervous tension every theatre luvvy recognises, Bill attempts to teach Jules a lesson in farce. If this sounds familiar, it should. There are plenty of works of farce which are intimately concerned with the theatre – Michael Frayn’s Noises Off being the most notable example. Perhaps it’s because performing a play, especially a comedy, is so mechanical. “Theatre is a technical medium,” says Houghton. “The best theatre actors master technique… the mechanism of the play. And then they bring themselves to it, their own charm or charisma. But it’s a workout,” says Houghton. Actors are required to perform the same thing over and over again, bringing the same energy or emotion to it every night. They have to walk the same paths over and over again; the slightest deviation can spell utter devastation to the performance. Knock-on dangers are even more amplified in farce, where everything (especially characters) is more thing than human. “It’s a tightrope walk between being in the moment with the other actor and sticking to the form. I think perhaps all good art works on that tension.”
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“The initial portrait of Jules is the cliché Gen Y. Morally free, unhindered by the harsh politics of the ‘60s and ‘70s – the cold war, feminism, understandings of racial politics. [... But] Bill is also emblematic of his generation – angst ridden and trapped in an unhappy relationship, he is driven by greed and duty,” says Houghton. Bill and Jules’s inability to see eye to eye (and their utter conformity to the clichés of their respective generations) makes them perfect fodder for farce. But, just because they’re clichés doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of truth to their relationship, says Houghton. “I wanted to tick all the boxes of comedy, but I also wanted to show that behind comedy there’s always something else. A laugh only occurs out of recognition. In the moment of laughter the truth has been told. I love that. Drama can take ages to reach a truth. Comedy is like a laser, it finds it quickly and leaves it quickly. “Good comedy is underlined by real pain. Fawlty Towers is funny to look at and the jokes are brilliant as are the situations and the characters. But behind Basil is a tragic relationship, unfulfilled and lonely…. And that leads to Basil’s desperation. Because it’s comedy he perseveres. He keeps going whatever happens.” Which brings us to Rule No. 4: “Good drama is like a good meal. Good farce is like breaking wind. Relax and let go.” It’s the farce character’s inability to let go (or their inability to control what happens when they do) that leads to much of the humour. It is a humour based, as Houghton says, in experienced pain, in violence, and in blindly and mechanically persevering even in the face of utter chaos. “My character Bill is like that. He’s so out of his depth but he never surrenders, which is touching and very funny. “I suppose we laugh at violence in farce because the victim is rarely badly hurt, which makes it different to life,” says Houghton. But here, Houghton says, A Commercial Farce subverts the tradition. As Rule No. 5 states, “Drama is how life could be. Farce is how it is.” Making devastating alterations to an existing model is one of the standard techniques of comedy. Farce, in a way, invites it. “Satire and parody in particular but really most comedy needs a blueprint,” says Houghton. “The play they’re rehearsing here is a standard English bedroom farce. [...] So yes, we sort of know the jokes. So it’s the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’ that we’re interested in. And this play actually pulls apart some of those old jokes. And then puts them back together. They’re indestructible, most of them.” Malthouse Theatre presents A Commercial Farce at the Canberra Theatre Centre April 14-16. Tickets through Canberra Ticketing.
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GREEK OUT Zoe Pleasants In April there’s a show coming to Canberra that sounds like it has all the right ingredients. A talented cast, high production values, an original story and strong characters all served up with a healthy dose of history, politics and passion. And it features, by all accounts, an amazing band live on stage. The show is CAFÉ REBETIKA featuring the band Rebetiki. It takes the audience on a journey into the utopian rebetes subculture of 1930s Athens. It is set in a teke, or hash den, where outcasts, refugees, musicians, addicts, anarchists, communists and prostitutes come together to escape the unhappy reality of their lives and sing passionate Greek rebetika music: the soul music of survival. Don’t be concerned if you haven’t heard of the rebetes subculture or you can’t hum a rebetika tune, I certainly hadn’t and can’t. You’ll pick it up – that’s the history bit of the show. But listening to Tony Nikolakopoulous (Head On, Underbelly, City Homicide, East West 101), lead actor, talk about Café Rebetika I am convinced of the universal appeal that something of this quality will have. Tony plays Stavrakas, the owner of the teke. He is a manga; a charismatic, self contained man of style and substance. Sporting a clipped moustache and pointed shoes, he lives according to his own code. This is a code of “acceptance”, explains Tony. “He accepts people for who they are as long as they don’t hurt anybody.” But sadly “Stavrakas also doesn’t believe in marriage or what marriage brings to a relationship,” explains Tony and when this belief clashes with the ideas of his lover, Areti (played by music theatre star Jenny Vuletic), tragedy befalls them. Tony describes Stavrakas as “a deeply psychological and philosophical character.” He talks about the emotional effort it takes to bring him to stage each night. Tony “feels every bit of him, there is no way to fake it.” All but two of the actors in this production are Greek. Tony describes “the passion and sense of pride the cast have in bringing this particular slice of history to the stage with so much dignity.” Tony himself was born in Australia of Greek parents but didn’t discover what he describes as his “Hellenic spirit” until his early 20s. But this spirit produced the “tears I had to hold back when playing to a sold out Melbourne Arts Centre, with 200 Greeks joining in the singing of the rebetes songs,” Tony recounts. Tony keeps repeating the word “filmic” when describing Café Rebetika. He talks about “immersing the audience in this other world” and “the songs and dialogue overlapping each other.” It sounds stunning, and if I can be there on the night when 200 CanberranGreeks sing along with the rebetes songs I think it will be really something! Café Rebetika is playing at The Street Theatre from Thursday-Saturday April 7-16. Tickets are available from the venue’s website.
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Despite so many performances, the choir still finds performing their songs an emotional experience. “They went to Haiti straight after the earthquake”, says Alfonso, “so each time they sing they are transported back not just to the hardships of their ancestors, but also to the time and place after the disaster”. The moving music makes it difficult to forget the message they are relaying.
CREOLE CULTURE OF CUBA Clare Butterfield Directed by Emilia Chavez, the ten-person CREOLE CHOIR OF CUBA (known as Desandann in Cuba) brings to life the songs and history of their Haitian descendants. Their recently released album Tande-La (which translates as Listen) tells the stories of the choir’s Haitian ancestors who were brought to Cuba to work in almost slave conditions in the coffee and sugar plantations. Choir spokesperson, Eugenia Alfonso, describes each song as “a narrative about Haiti, but also about universal topics, such as strength in numbers and people trying to get to a better place in life”. The group has recently completed a very busy, very cold tour of the UK, during which they experienced intense reactions from audiences. Alfonso says “there were nights after performances where people came up to the choir with tears in their eyes. People were hugging them and crying”.
The Haitian culture has a significant oral tradition, a remnant of the West African heritage of the Haitian people, and it is through this oral tradition that the choir learnt the songs they perform. Being classically trained singers, however, the choir adds “something extra” to the songs, converting them from historic tales passed quietly from generation to generation, to impressive numbers that can be performed to large audiences. While doing this though, “they go to extraordinary lengths to maintain authenticity in the songs and respect all the original structures,” says Alfonso. The choir has received rave reviews in Britain and Australia, and its members are celebrities in their home country. Fidel Castro is said to have enjoyed their show and described it as “a showcase for what Cuba is in terms of the fusion of cultures and the significant part the Haitian presence plays in that fusion”. Founded at a difficult time in Cuba’s history – at the end of the USSR and of Soviet support for the revolution, it was the choir’s determination that got them started and kept them going. Alfonso describes how “music was their life and soul, and as a group they strongly believed in what they were doing”. This belief that what they were doing was important was solidified when they were nominated for a Grammy and is confirmed when they see the reactions to their performances. The Creole Choir of Cuba is performing at the Southern Cross Club in Woden on Friday April 8. Tickets are $44, and available through the Southern Cross Club website at www.cscc.com.au .
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PROOP THERE IT IS tim galvin “Whose line is it anyway?” is a rhetorical question that most pay TV subscribers have agonised over since the hit improv showpiece burst through our small square screens back in the 1990s. The show’s main protagonists were of course roly-poly referee Drew Carey and his trio of professional exhibitionists Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady and Colin Mochrie alongside a team of semi-regular favourites including perennial Mr Cool GREG PROOPS. “I auditioned in San Francisco and got to go to the UK,” says Proops. “It changed my life and probably yours as well.” The audacious American is best known to Australian audiences through WLIIA, but Proops manages many successful strings in his bow. “By doing many different jobs indifferently,” he says, including being an actor, TV compère, comedian and improv artist. “The Ancient Greeks invented acting. Then I invented stand-up, then Ryan Stiles invented improv,” says Proops. “Doing improv gave me the confidence to fail in two different comedy milieus.” With his dandy demeanour and sharp wardrobe, Proops is the sassy Johnny Cash of American comedy. He has exhibited his famous coiffure to comedy buffs all over the world. “Poms like puns. Seppos yell more,” he adds, and like all crazy egomaniacal stand-up performers he has had to trade impudence with a few revellers who had probably enjoyed a bit too much of the house wine with their illegal pain medication. “You mean drunk disruptive asshats who seek to destroy my rapport with the masses and hinder my poetic wanderings? [It doesn’t happen] that often,” he says. “A guy was asleep in New York last week. In the front row. I spent a half hour exploring his inner thoughts. Then he woke up and knew the capital of Ecuador. Rough justice. No one gets Western with the Proopdog.” Back in the States he hosts his own live talk show at the famous Hollywood nightspot Largo, which has a long list of previous ‘drop ins’ including Jason Schwartzman, Russell Brand, Jack Black, Dave Grohl, Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman. In the short hours he isn’t on stage or comparing expensive pullovers with world famous celebrities, Proops is in the recording studio saying things into a microphone; you might remember his saucy accent from something called Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and to a lesser extent from Pamela Anderson’s Stripperella and the Bob the Builder animated TV series. “I could use some depth,” he says. By some unimaginable turn of events, Proops has shifted time and space to allow his Australian fans a chance to get up close with the Proopdog in a series of stand up shows across the country in April, and he is looking forward to coming back. “Like a breath of fresh air. I love the food, the wine, the weed and the people. Very much so [and] I left eight dollars in Melbourne in my hotel room.”
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Greg Proops will perform at the Canberra Theatre Centre on Friday April 15. Tickets are available through the venue’s website.
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NATIONAL YOUTH WEEK 2011 WEDNESDAY 16, 23, 30 MARCH AND 6 APRIL Art Making Workshops at the National Gallery of Australia National Gallery of Australia If you are aged between 12 and 25, you are invited to come and join artists and be involved in an art-making workshop at the National Gallery of Australia. The course runs over 4 weeks and is free. Limited spaces – book fast. Time: 3.30 – 5.30pm. Venue: National Gallery of Australia Contact: (02) 6240 6519 or groupbookings@nga.gov.au Cost: Free
THURSDAY 31 MARCH Belco Flicks III - Offspring Belconnen Community Service A night of locally made short films by young film-makers from all backgrounds.
Time: 7.30pm Venue: Belconnen Theatre, Belconnen Community Centre, Swansson Court Belconnen Contact: Simone Penkethman on (02) 6264 0271 or simone. penkethman@bcsact.com.au Cost: Free Bookings recommended, to (02) 6264 0232
Express Yourself Bungee Program, Belconnen Community Service Express Yourself - A mixed media exhibition of self-portraits by young people. Guest speaker Helena Bezzina, Public Programs Manager, National Portrait Gallery will open the event. Light refreshments will be provided. The exhibition will close on Thursday 14 April 2011.
Time: 6pm Venue: Belconnen Gallery, Belconnen Community Centre, Swansson Court, Belconnen Contact: Roger Weber on (02) 6264 0245 or roger.weber@bcsact. com.au Cost: Free
ALL AGES ONLINE THIS ISSUE ONLY!
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FRIDAY 1 APRIL Official Launch of National Youth Week 2011 in the ACT and the National Youth Week Expo Youth Coalition of the ACT and the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services National Youth Week will be launched by the Minister for Children and Young People, Ms Joy Burch, MLA. Come and hear about National Youth Week and what is happening in the ACT. The annual National Youth Week Expo aims to promote young people, their art and music, and engages youth and community service organisations to provide information, and activities for and about young people. The Expo event will have exhibitions, information stalls, performances, workshops, live music and theatre for, and by, young people aged 12 to 25 years old. Time: 2 – 7pm Venue: Garema Place, Civic Contact: (02) 6247 3540, youthweek@ youthcoalition.net or www.youthcoalition. net Cost: Free
YOUTH WEEK
Deakin High LIPDUB Deakin High This is a YouTube phenomenon with specific guidelines applying including maximum school involvement and all work done by students, with the filming completed in one continuous take - with no edits allowed. Time: 10am Venue: Deakin High School Contact: Phill Dodd on (02) 6205 5566 or phillip.dodd@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free
Touch Footy Tournament 2011 Canberra High School The Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament will create an opportunity for the young people in the school to join in on a sporting event and encourage them to exercise. This event will be repeated throughout Youth Week.
Time: 1 – 2.50pm Venue: Canberra High School Contact: Paul Simmons on (02) 6205 7000 or paul.simmons@ed.act. edu.au Cost: Free
Exhibition: When Science Meets Art CSIRO An exhibition of selected works from the National Youth Week ‘When Science Meets Art’ competition, in which students under the age of 18 communicate a piece of scientific research using innovation and a blend of science and art. Prizes will be presented to the winners of the, When Science Meets Art competition at the Discovery After Dark event at 7pm on Friday 8 April 2011 at the CSIRO.
When: 1 – 10 April 2011 Time: 9am - 5pm Venue: CSIRO, Clunies Ross Street Acton Contact: Margaret McIver on (02) 6246 5632 or margaret.mciver@csiro.au Cost: Free
Through My Eyes Art Prize CatholicCare Canberra and Goulburn An art exhibition based on the Youthbeyondblue themes of Look, Listen, Talk, Seek Help Together.
Time: 2 – 7pm Venue: National Youth Week Expo and Launch Contact: Sally on (02) 6163 7635 or sally.fitzmaurice@ catholiccarecg.org.au
SATURDAY 2 APRIL
See also Exhibition: When Science Meets Art under Friday 1 April.
Gungahlin Youth Expo 11 Gungahlin Youth Centre, Gungahlin Regional Community Service Expo 11 is a free event for all young people in Canberra. There will be a skate competition, food and drinks, amusements, outdoor laser tag, airbrush tattoos, music, hip hop performance and more.
Time: 1 – 5pm Venue: Gungahlin Skate Park, Yerrabi Ponds Contact: Krissi on (02) 6123 4411 or krissi@grcs.org.au Cost: Free
Big Bang Ballers – Night Hoops Big Bang Ballers Open basketball courts, drills, coaching, games, a tournament, free food, drinks and plenty of space to have a safe happy Saturday night. This event will be repeated on Saturday 9 April. Register through the website. Venue: Belconnen Basketball Courts, Oatley Court, Belconnen Contact: Pierre Johannessen on 0400 911 716, pierre@bigbangballers.org or www.bigbangballers.org Cost: Free
12.00–12.15 10.00–4.00 12.15–12.45 12.45–1.15 1.45–2.15 2.15–2.45 3.15–4pm Venue: Contact: Cost:
LAUNCH of A Fair with Art ZINE FAIR, CCAS Gorman House Galleries QL2 - Identify CYT’s hijinx – the youth variety spectacular QL2 - Identify CYT’s hijinx – the youth variety spectacular CYT’s Actors Ensemble – TheatreSports Showdown Gorman House Arts Centre Anna Voronoff on (02) 6247 3540 and Bill Morris on (02) 6249 7377 Free
NATIONAL YOUTH WEEK 2011 AND GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE PRESENT
A Fair With Art YOUTH WEEK
SATURDAY 9 APRIL A Fair with Art will be launched at midday in the Gorman House Arts Centre Courtyard.
Come along to Gorman House Arts Centre to check out the new National Youth Week Festival – A FAIR WITH ART packed full of amazing youth visual art and live performance! Canberra Youth Theatre presents hiJinx – the youth variety spectacular plus the CYT Actors Ensemble will put their pride on the line with the CYT TheatreSports Showdown. QL2 will stage a studio showing of a work created by Melbourne choreographer - Jodie Farrugia. The performance will be part of QL2’s major season ‘Identify’ in August 2011. ACT Writers Centre and Canberra Contemporary Art Space will host the annual Zine Fair which includes zines, artwork, badges, buttons, t-shirts, great designs as well as cupcakes!
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NATIONAL YOUTH YOUTH WEEK WEEK 2011 2011 NATIONAL SUNDAY33APRIL APRIL SUNDAY
also Exhibition: When Science Meets SeeSee also Exhibition: When Science Meets under Friday 1 April. ArtArt under Friday 1 April.
MONDAY44APRIL APRIL MONDAY
also Exhibition: When Science Meets SeeSee also Exhibition: When Science Meets under Friday 1 April. ArtArt under Friday 1 April. also Canberra High School Touch Footy SeeSee also Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April. Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April.
Risky Business Exhibition Risky Business ArtArt Exhibition Northside Community Service Northside Community Service This a Youth Photographic Exhibition. This is aisYouth Photographic ArtArt Exhibition. Venue: Southside Gallery, Boolimba Venue: Southside Gallery, 6363 Boolimba Cres, Narrabundah Contact: Brook Hardy Cres, Narrabundah Contact: Brook Hardy onon (02) 6163 0435, brooke.hardy@northside. (02) 6163 0435, brooke.hardy@northside. asn.au www.northside.asn.au Cost: Free asn.au or or www.northside.asn.au Cost: Free
Aboriginal Dance Exzibit Aboriginal Dance Exzibit –– The Next level The Next level Dance Beyond Barriers Dance Beyond Barriers Featuring Whole She-bang, Young Featuring TheThe Whole She-bang, TheThe Young Guns, Gee-Wizz. Guns, Gee-Wizz.
Time: 6.30pm (doors open 6pm) Venue: Time: 6.30pm (doors open at at 6pm) Venue: Erindale Viking Club Contact: Tanya Keed Erindale Viking Club Contact: Tanya Keed 0422 772 135 tanya.keed@act.gov.au onon 0422 772 135 or or tanya.keed@act.gov.au Cost: Free Cost: Free
Melrose High School anti-bullying Melrose High School hashas anan anti-bullying safe schools focus for 2011. The school safe schools focus for 2011. The school Legislative Assembly Legislative Assembly –– community is focusing on education community is focusing on education Debate and Forum Debate and Forum prevention support with regards prevention andand support with regards to to ACT Legislative Assembly ACT Legislative Assembly bullying harassment within school bullying andand harassment within thethe school Part One: A debate topic: drinking community. Part One: A debate onon thethe topic: TheThe drinking community. This event repeated This event willwill bebe repeated should raised from years ageage should bebe raised from 1818 to to 2121 years throughout Youth Week. throughout Youth Week. age. Two teams 3 young people of of age. Two teams of of 3 young people willwill Time: All day Venue: Melrose High School Time: All day Venue: Melrose High School debate topic, each accompanied debate thisthis topic, each accompanied by by anan Contact: Crystal Mahon on (02) 6205 7588 Contact: Crystal Mahon on (02) 6205 7588 MLA. A maximum people attend. MLA. A maximum of of 6060 people cancan attend. or crystal.mahon@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free or crystal.mahon@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free Part Two: A forum discussing: Sport Part Two: A forum discussing: Sport andand Alcohol - an unhealthy mix. speaker Alcohol - an unhealthy mix. TheThe speaker Young Lunch Young Lunch encourage questions comments willwill encourage questions andand comments Stromlo High School Stromlo High School from floor participants have from thethe floor andand participants willwill have thethe Sausage sizzle, Amazing Race, Oztag, JellySausage sizzle, Amazing Race, Oztag, Jellyopportunity visit Chamber. opportunity to to visit thethe Chamber. bean much much more! This event bean JarJar andand much much more! This event Time: – 7pm Venue: Reception Room, Time: 5 –5 7pm Venue: Reception Room, repeated throughout Youth Week. willwill bebe repeated throughout Youth Week. Legislative Assembly, Civic Square, Civic Legislative Assembly, Civic Square, Civic Time: 1.30 – 2.10pm Venue: Stromlo High Time: 1.30 – 2.10pm Venue: Stromlo High Contact: Friday March Joanne Contact: ByBy Friday 2525 March to to Joanne School Contact: Jo Hopman on (02) 6205 School Contact: Jo Hopman on (02) 6205 (02) 6205 3025 joanne.cullen@ onon (02) 6205 3025 or or joanne.cullen@ 6135 jo.aldis@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free 6135 or or jo.aldis@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free parliament.act.gov.au Cost: Free parliament.act.gov.au Cost: Free
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Anti Bullying Student Action Anti Bullying Student Action Campaign Campaign Melrose High School Melrose High School
ACT CALENDAR CALENDAR OF OF EVENTS EVENTS ACT Kulture Break Dance Workshop Kulture Break Dance Workshop Hawker College Hawker College Year students at Hawker College Year 1111 andand 1212 students at Hawker College have opportunity participate willwill have thethe opportunity to to participate in ain a dance workshop class during freefree hiphip hophop dance workshop class during lunchtimes in National Youth Week. These lunchtimes in National Youth Week. These workshops provided Kulture Break workshops willwill be be provided by by Kulture Break in the Hawker College Gymnasium, in the Hawker College Gymnasium, andand willwill repeated Tuesday 5 April 2011. be be repeated onon Tuesday 5 April 2011. To To participate, students need bring a water participate, students need to to bring a water bottle, wear closed shoes comfortable bottle, wear closed toetoe shoes andand comfortable clothing (students without correct footwear clothing (students without correct footwear able participate). willwill notnot be be able to to participate). Time: – 1.45pm Venue: Hawker College Time: 1 –1 1.45pm Venue: Hawker College Contact: Alison Berardino (02) 6205 Contact: Alison Di Di Berardino onon (02) 6205 8865 alison.diberardino@ed.act.edu.au 8865 or or alison.diberardino@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free Cost: Free
Foldback – Tuggeranong Schools Foldback – Tuggeranong Schools Rock Project Rock Project Calwell High School Calwell High School part National Youth Week 2011, As As part of of National Youth Week 2011, thethe high schools from Tuggeranong Valley high schools from thethe Tuggeranong Valley combining a spectacular rock willwill bebe combining forfor a spectacular rock event: Foldback. event: Foldback.
Time: 6.30 – 8.45pm Venue: Calwell High Time: 6.30 – 8.45pm Venue: Calwell High School Performing Arts Centre, Casey Cres School Performing Arts Centre, Casey Cres Calwell Contact: Chris Allen (02) 6205 Calwell Contact: Chris Allen onon (02) 6205 8269 Christopher.Allen@ed.act.edu.au 8269 or or Christopher.Allen@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free Cost: Free
also Anti-Bullying Student Action SeeSee also Anti-Bullying Student Action Campaign under Monday 4 April. Campaign under Monday 4 April. also Risky Business Exhibition SeeSee also Risky Business ArtArt Exhibition under Monday 4 April. under Monday 4 April.
also Kulture Break Dance Workshop SeeSee also Kulture Break Dance Workshop under Monday 4 April. under Monday 4 April. Free Flicks – Thirteen Moving Minds Free Flicks – Thirteen Moving Minds
Mental Illness Education ACT Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT) (MIEACT)
National Youth Week 2011 National Youth Week 2011 Draw-Fest Draw-Fest Young volunteer educators from MIEACT Young volunteer educators from MIEACT willwill National National Gallery Australia Gallery of of Australia
host a screening Moving Minds, personal host a screening of of Moving Minds, personal Calling secondary students come Calling all all secondary students to to come to to stories recovery. Isabel Lopez stories of of recovery. Isabel Lopez willwill talktalk gallery draw. thethe gallery andand draw. about experiences depression about herher experiences of of depression andand Time: 12.30 – 2.30pm Venue: National 12.30 – 2.30pm Venue: National about making film, “I Can Remember...” Time: about making herher film, “I Can Remember...” Gallery Australia Contact: Adriane Boag Gallery of of Australia Contact: Adriane Boag Time: 7.30pm Venue: Dendy Cinema, Bunda Time: 7.30pm Venue: Dendy Cinema, Bunda (02) 6240 6632 Cost: Free onon (02) 6240 6632 Cost: Free Civic Contact: Jacqui (02) 6257 1195 St,St, Civic Contact: Jacqui onon (02) 6257 1195 jacqui@mieact.org.au Cost: Free or or jacqui@mieact.org.au Cost: Free The Picture Picture The BigBig Picture BigBig Picture
TUESDAY55APRIL APRIL TUESDAY
also Exhibition: When Science Meets SeeSee also Exhibition: When Science Meets under Friday 1 April. ArtArt under Friday 1 April. also Canberra High School Touch Footy SeeSee also Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April. Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April.
YOUTHWEEK WEEK YOUTH
also Young Lunch under Monday 4 April. SeeSee also Young Lunch under Monday 4 April.
Canberra College Canberra College
This event bring Picture students This event willwill bring BigBig Picture students together work a project that promotes together to to work onon a project that promotes teamwork, creativity individuality. teamwork, creativity andand individuality. Time: 10am – 2.30pm Venue: Canberra Time: 10am – 2.30pm Venue: Canberra College Contact: Lisa Garner (02) 6205 College Contact: Lisa Garner onon (02) 6205 5777 lisa.garner@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free 5777 or or lisa.garner@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free
CSIRO CSIRO AD AD
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NATIONAL YOUTH WEEK 2011 WEDNESDAY 6 APRIL
See also Risky Business Art Exhibition under Monday 4 April.
See also Exhibition: When Science Meets Art under Friday 1 April.
Bimberi Youth Justice Centre Expo
See also Young Lunch under Monday 4 April.
An opportunity for young people in Bimberi Youth Justice Centre to establish further contacts.
See also Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April. See also Anti-Bullying Student Action Campaign under Monday 4 April.
See also Risky Business Art Exhibition under Monday 4 April.
See also The Big Picture Big Picture under Tuesday 5 April.
K.E.L.S (Kids Empowered Learning Sport) Program Lanyon High School Participate in a soccer event at Lanyon High School. Kelsey Drabsch (a Year 9 student at Lanyon High School) received a $1500 Youth InterACT grant and is using the funds to run this event! Time: 1.30 – 3pm Venue: Lanyon High School Contact: Darren King on (02) 6205 7676 or darren.king@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free
Legislative Assembly – Visit to Question Time ACT Legislative Assembly Young people aged 12 – 18 years will have the opportunity to visit the Assembly during Question Time. There will be a 5-minute introduction on what Question Time is by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, followed by a film screening, One of a Kind. A visit to the Chamber from 2pm - 3pm for Question Time and then afternoon tea in the Reception Room until 3.30 – 3.45pm Time: 1.30pm Venue: Reception Room, Legislative Assembly, Civic Square, Civic Contact: Joanne Cullen on (02) 6205 3025 or joanne.cullen@parliament.act.gov.au Cost: Free
THURSDAY 7 APRIL
See also Exhibition: When Science Meets Art under Friday 1 April.
See also Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April. See also Young Lunch under Monday 4 April. See also Anti-Bullying Student Action Campaign under Monday 4 April.
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Time: This is a closed event, by invitation only Venue: Bimberi Youth Justice Centre Contact: Jarrah Robbins on (02) 6247 3540 or jarrah@youthcoalition.net
Overcoming Depression and Anxiety in a Teenager’s World Canberra High School The Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament will create an opportunity for the young people in the school to join in on a sporting event and encourage them to exercise.
Time: 10.20am Venue: Canberra High School, Bindubi St Macquarie ACT Contact: Paul Simmons on (02) 6205 7000 or paul. simmons@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free
YOUTH WEEK
Time: 10am – 6pm Venue: Ainslie Arts building Contact: RSVP by 1 April, to Clare Davies on (02) 6253 1451, 0439 764 163, 1800 655 105 or clare.davies@create.org.au Cost: Free
Sudanese Youth Association – Coming Together to Talk About Depression Awareness Sudanese Youth Association This event provides an opportunity for Sudanese young people to talk about depression awareness. The event will also be repeated on Friday 8 April 2011.
Time: 3 – 5.30pm Venue: Multicultural Youth Services, 180 London Circuit Canberra City 2601 Contact: Cephas on 0432 523 408 or cephasdegarang@yahoo. com Cost: Free
Everyone’s a Winner Baby, That’s No Lie Scope Youth Services, YWCA of Canberra
ACT Healthy Young People – Feasibility Study Feedback Session ACT Health
Scope Youth Services has created an AMF bowling program to support social inclusion and networking for young people. Community workers within Canberra and Queanbeyan are all encouraged to join in the fun.
Dr Nicole Lee and Linda Jenner from LeeJenn Health Consultants will report back on the preliminary findings of the study to date, particularly the issues raised in the consultation process.
FRIDAY 8 APRIL
Time: 4 – 5.30pm Contact: Samara Plunkett on (02) 6257 1640
Time: 12 – 1pm Venue: Meeting Room, Level 5, 1 Moore St City – Health Building Contact: Neill Taylor on (02) 6207 3722 or Neill.Taylor@act.gov.au Cost: Free
See also Exhibition: When Science Meets Art under Friday 1 April.
The Woden School Bike Day The Woden School
See also Anti-Bullying Student Action Campaign under Monday 4 April.
The Woden School will have bike activities promoting exercise and health related lifestyle. Time: 11.45am – 1.15pm Venue: Woden School Contact: Ben Smith on (02) 6205 5966 or ben.smith@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free
CREATE-Your-Own-Short-Film-In-ADay CREATE Foundation ACT Want to learn how to make a short film? Come along to this FREE one day workshop and learn the tricks of the trade while making a film “Own it”.
See also Canberra High School Touch Footy Tournament 2011 under Friday 1 April. See also Young Lunch under Monday 4 April.
See also Risky Business Art Exhibition under Monday 4 April.
See also Sudanese Youth Association – Coming Together to Talk about Depression Awareness under Thursday 7 April.
Know How – ACT Now Youth InterACT Conference 2011 Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services The Youth InterACT Conference will consist of 5 forums on topical issues of interest to young people. These include: Arrive Alive, Sustainability and the Environment, Alcohol:
ACT CALENDAR OF EVENTS Its Health and Social Impact on You, Mental Health and Wellbeing: Removing the Stigma, and Accessing Entertainment for under 18’s: Identifying the Barriers. There will be a BBQ lunch and fun activities over the lunch period. The afternoon will consist of fun and interactive workshops including: Uni-cycling, Hip-hop and Zumba dance, Circus skills, Stencil art, Drama, Comic illustrations and Save-AMate (drug and alcohol safety first aid). Time: 8am - 3pm Venue: Ainslie Arts Centre, Elourea Street, Braddon (Bus Route 7) Contact: (02) 6205 3064 or www.youth. act.gov.au Cost: Free - Must register to attend
The Canberra Centre Wearable Art Competition Winners Announcement The Wearable Art Exhibition winners will be announced. Time: 4.30pm Venue: Upper Glass Floor area of the Canberra Centre Contact: Ellie Daly on (02) 6247 5611 or www. canberracentre.com.au Cost: Free
Discovery After Dark CSIRO This event features two live bands, and an ‘Open Mic’ segment with a chemistry theme and is open to young people aged 16 – 18 years. Prizes for the best poem, short story, or song, etc. Non-alcoholic drinks are included, along with free admission to the Discovery exhibition Time: 6 - 8pm Venue: CSIRO, Clunies Ross Street, Acton Contact: Guy Micklethwait on (02) 6246 4620 or guy.micklethwait@ csiro.au Cost: Free
When Science Meets Art Award Presentation CSIRO
Joy Burch MLA, Minister for Youth and Minister for Multicultural Affairs invites your school to have representation at the Multicultural Youth Forum to be held during National Youth Week 2011. The ACT Multicultural Youth Forum provides an opportunity for young people to convey their thoughts and ideas directly to the Minister. Time: 10am - 2.30pm Venue: Function Room, ACT Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre, 180 London Circuit Canberra City Contact: Eyn Gai on (02) 6100 4611, 0411 987 735 or info@mys.org.au Cost: Free
Prizes will be presented to the winners of the When Science Meets Art competition at the Discovery After Dark event. Time: 7pm Venue: CSIRO, Clunies Ross Street Acton Contact: Margaret McIver on (02) 6246 5632 or margaret.mciver@ csiro.au Cost: Free
YOUTH WEEK
AXIS Quenbeyan Youth Centre
AD
ACT Multicultural Youth Forum 2011 Multicultural Youth Services and the Youth Coalition of the ACT
Geese AD
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NATIONAL YOUTH WEEK 2011 Own the Floor Belly Fusion Own the Floor is a dance performance for young people aged 12 – 25 years. This event will be repeated on Saturday 9 April 2011. Time: 7.30pm Venue: Belconnen Theatre, Belconnen Community Centre, Swansson Court Belconnen Contact: Rachel Murphy on (02) 6255 1127 or belly_fusion@ hotmail.com Cost: Free
The Journey ‘Own It’ Street Art Mural Workshop Communities@Work Tuggeranong and Weston Creek youth centres will be holding this workshop as part of the Youth Interact Conference (see Youth InterACT Conference above for more information).
Time: 12 – 1pm Venue: Youth InterACT Conference Contact: Rebecca James on (02) 6126 9059 or youth@commsatwork. org. Cost: Free
SATURDAY 9 APRIL
See also Exhibition: When Science Meets Art under Friday 1 April. See also Big Bang Ballers – Night Hoops under Saturday 2 April.
See also Own the Floor under Friday 8 April.
Gorman House A Fair With Art Gorman House Arts Centre The event will run from 12 – 4pm. Canberra Youth Theatre, QL2, BMA, ACT Writer’s Centre and the Canberra Contemporary Arts Space have programmed free events, performances and workshops for the day. Time: Launch 12pm; activities and performances until 4pm Venue: Gorman House Arts Centre Contact: Anna Voronoff on (02) 6247 3540 and Bill Morris on (02) 6249 7377 Cost: Free
Young Carers Breakfast Young Carers Network The Young Carers Big Breakfast for 2011 is an all you can eat buffet breakfast followed by a private screening of the film “RIO”. Venue: Tuggeranong Contact: Tammy (Cyclops ACT and the Litmus Program) on (02) 6278 8444 Cost: Free – This event is by invitation only and RSVP is essential
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The Great Transfabulous Clothes Swap A Gender Agenda By and for sex and gender diverse young people and their friends in the ACT. Hang out, bring clothes to swap or check out donated ones. Enjoy music and a BBQ. Time: 1 – 4pm Venue: Join AGA Youth Group email list for venue information: Youthgroup.subscribe@genderrights. org.au Contact: Cam on 0420 344 883 or boyinsideout@hotmail.com. RSVP is essential Cost: Free
Zine Fair ACT Writers Centre and Canberra Contemporary Arts Space The annual Zine Fair includes zines, artwork, badges, buttons, t-shirts, great designs as well as cupcakes! Time: 10am – 4pm Venue: Contemporary Arts Space, Gorman House, Ainslie Ave Braddon Contact: Anne-Maree Britton on (02) 6262 9191 Cost: Free
YOUTH WEEK
Zine Workshop with Vanessa Berry ACT Writers Centre As part of the annual Zine Fair, a zine making workshop will be offered for 12 lucky people. Vanessa Berry is one of Australia’s best known zinemakers. She keeps a blog at: http://vanessaberryworld.wordpress.com
SUNDAY 10 APRIL
See also Exhibition: When Science Meets Art under Friday 1 April.
Sudanese Youth Association – Basketball Sudanese Youth Association
Time: 1 – 6pm Venue: Belconnen Basketball Stadium Contact: Cephas and Ruben on 0423 767 565, 0432 523 408 or cephasdegarang@yahoo.com Cost: Free
Sudanese Youth Association – Coming Together to Talk About Depression Awareness
Time: 2.30 – 4pm Venue: St. George Anglican Church, 61 Pethebridge Street, Pearce Contact: Cephas on 0432 523 408 or cephasdegarang@yahoo.com Cost: Free
OTHER YOUTH WEEK ACTIVITIES Sudanese Youth Association – Coming Together to Talk About Depression Awareness Sudanese Youth Association This closing day celebration provides an opportunity for Sudanese young people to talk about depression awareness.
Time: 9 - 11am Venue: Contemporary Arts Space, Gorman House, Ainslie Ave Braddon Contact: Anne-Maree Britton on (02) 6262 9191 Cost: Free
Date: Saturday 16 April 2011 Time: 2.30 – 5.30pm Venue: Multicultural Youth Services, 180 London Circuit Canberra City Contact: Cephas on 0432 523 408 or cephasdegarang@yahoo.com Cost: Free
Sudanese Youth Association – Soccer Sudanese Youth Association
National Youth Week Disco Black Mountain School
The association is taking responsibility to coordinate the coming together and interaction of young Sudanese in Canberra through the Sudanese youth activities. Time: 11.30am – 5.30pm Venue: Australian National University Contact: Cephas and Ruben on 0423 767 565, 0432 523 408 or cephasdegarang@yahoo.com Cost: Free
YOUTHontheSCENEFEST – Live Music Event Time: 5 – 10pm Venue: Woden Youth Centre, 29 Callam St, Woden Contact: Sindy Pearson on (02) 6282 3037, wodenyouth@ wcs.org.au or www.facebook.com Cost: Free
This event will help to promote a healthy lifestyle with the students and within the school community. The students at Black Mountain School cherish the opportunity to dance!
Date: TBC Where: Black Mountain School Contact: Ben Smith on (02) 6205 6377 or ben.smith@ed.act.edu.au Cost: Free
ACT ACTCALENDAR CALENDAROF OFEVENTS EVENTS Dickson Dickson College College Community Community Calendar Calendar Postcard Postcard
Campbell Campbell HighHigh School School Breakfast Breakfast Campbell Campbell HighHigh School School
A free breakfast breakfast for the forstudents the students of of Date:Date: TBC Contact: TBC Contact: JennyJenny Rae on Rae(02) on (02) 62056205 A free Campbell HighHigh School School to promote to promote National National 64556455 or jenny.rae@ed.act.edu.au or jenny.rae@ed.act.edu.au Cost:Cost: FreeFreeCampbell YouthYouth Week, Week, healthy healthy eating eating before before school school and an andopportunity an opportunity for the for the school school bandband to play. to play.
MIEACT MIEACT - Reflections - Reflections Mental Mental Illness Illness Education Education ACT ACT (MIEACT) (MIEACT)
Making Making positive positive bodybody image image murals murals for the for the girl’sgirl’s bathroom bathroom at the atlocal the local highhigh school. school. Year Year 9 class 9 class will use will mirrors use mirrors and paint and paint and participate and participate in positive in positive bodybody image image workshops. Date:Date: TBC TBC Where: Where: Campbell Campbell HighHigh School School workshops. Contact: Contact: PeterPeter Mewburn Mewburn on (02) on (02) 62056205 63446344Date:Date: TBC TBC Contact: Contact: Sophie Sophie on (02) on (02) 62576257 or peter.mewburn@ed.act.edu.au or peter.mewburn@ed.act.edu.au 11951195 or sophie@mieact.org.au or sophie@mieact.org.au Cost:Cost: FreeFree Cost:Cost: Free.Free. Closed Closed eventevent for Campbell for Campbell HighHigh closed closed eventevent for high for high school school students students onlyonly students students only only
YOUTH WEEK
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Youth InterACT
Conference 2011 FOR YOUTH AGED 12-25
Fr id ayr i l h 8t 5aAmpÐ3p m 8 :4
KNOW HOW? ACT NOW!
YOUTH WEEK
ET INVOLVED | HAVE YOUR SAY | FORUMS & WORKSHOPS | MUSIC & FOOD | AND ITS ALL FREE | GET INVOLVE AINSLIE ARTS CEN& HAVE YOUR SAY | FORUMS & WORKSHOPS | MUSIC | AND ITS ALL FREE | GET INVOLVED | HAVE YOUR TRFOOD E Y | FORUMS & WORKSHOPS | MUSIC | AND ALL FREE | GET INVOLVED | HAVE YOUR SAY | FORUM ELO&UFOOD ERA S TREEITS T ORKSHOPS | MUSIC & FOOD | AND BITS INVOLVED | HAVE YOUR SAY | FORUMS & WORKSHOPS RAALL DDFREE ON, |AGET C T USIC & FOOD | AND ITS ALL FREE | GET INVOLVED | HAVE YOUR SAY | FORUMS & WORKSHOPS | MUSIC & FOO No. bus rou ND ITS ALL FREE | GET INVOLVED | HAVE7YOUR SAY |tFORUMS & WORKSHOPS | MUSIC & FOOD | AND ITS ALL e GET INVOLVED | HAVE YOUR SAY | FORUMS & WORKSHOPS | MUSIC & FOOD | AND ITS ALL FREE | GET INVOLV
For information on how to register check out www.youth.act.gov.au or contact Youth InterACT on 02~6205 3064
Supported by
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ARTISTPROFILE: Brett Lamson
What do you do? Comedian/documentary filmmaker. When did you get into it? I first did stand-up in 2003 and am just starting to branch out into travel docos. Who or what influences you as an artist? Some of my influences include Flight of the Concords, Dave Chappelle and Louis Theroux. Originality, determination and self-belief are key. What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Winning Raw Comedy ACT in 2003 is definitely up there. That and starting my own t-shirt line Dressed As. What are your plans for the future? In a few weeks I’m off to South America to make a documentary series called Lamson Loves Colombia. I’ll be cruising around doing Spanish stand-up and putting on events to show all the great things Colombia has to offer, taking the focus off the drugs and kidnappings. What makes you laugh? People who aren’t afraid of sticking it to the man. What pisses you off? People who go into a coffee shop and order a soy decaf latte extra hot. You are hated by cafe workers everywhere.
What are your upcoming projects? I plan on being in Colombia for six to eight months and if that project is successful I’ll be heading off to make Lamson Loves Argentina sometime early in 2012. Contact info: lamson@puffpeaceproductions.com
What’s your opinion of the local scene? The comedy scene is improving a lot in Canberra. If you want to get up and have a crack there are definitely opportunities out there.
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WHO: Robbie Karmel, Travis H Heinrich, Sarah Catherine Firth, Benjamin Forster, Anna Madeleine and Luke Penders WHAT: RE: - an intuitive online art collective/experiment WHEN: Now! Every Sunday, online, until mid October WHERE: Based totally online - www.regarding.com.au Canberra’s cultural affluence in recent weeks has seen many a sore foot wave the white flag of blistered exhaustion in response. Whilst our great capital is of a smaller build; the concrete builds up pound for pound with every rubber slap we made to and fro. Well, place your steaming trotters in an ice tub alongside your flotsam beverage, and fear nay! You can keep a keen eye on your local cultural happenings online through the wondrous online art experiment RE:. Like Chinese whispers if it went for seven months, was totally fucking awesome and involved six creative visual arts sorts. Trust me, keep a keen polished peeper on this one... TRAVIS H HEINRICH WHO: Zinesters WHAT: 2011 Zine Fair WHEN: Sat April 9 WHERE: CCAS Gorman House Following the extraordinary success of the 2010 Zine Fair, ACT Writers Centre and CCAS are up for seconds… this time during the A Fair with Art National Youth Week event. There will be many more attractions both in and out of the CCAS galleries including zines, artwork, badges, buttons, t-shirts, great designs and, of course, cupcakes. It’s all happening at CCAS at gorgeous old Gorman House on Saturday April 9 from 10 ‘til 4. To book your table call 6262 9191 or email admin@actwriters.org.au. But wait, there’s more! On the morning of the Fair 12 lucky zinesters will have the chance to take part in a workshop with one Australia’s best known zinemakers, Vanessa Barry. Book by contacting the above number or email. WHO: The Thursday Painting Group WHAT: Food for Thought exhibition WHEN: Wed March 30 – Sun April 10 WHERE: ANCA Gallery The Thursday Painting Group have created two wonderful and different collaborative installations based on the theme ‘Food for thought’. The smell, taste, sound, touch and sight of food can stimulate us in many different ways. Food can be sexual, it can bring people together on social occasions; lack of food can tear countries and families apart through war and poverty. The Thursday Group is a gathering of 15 local experienced and emerging painters who work to explore and experiment with the painting process. The diversity of its members provides a stimulating environment which encourages individual development and maintains continual appraisal of and advancement in their painting practice. Yum.
WHO: Canberra Youth Theatre WHAT: Open House: Artistic Residency for Emerging Artists WHEN: Applications close Monday April 11 WHERE: C Block Theatre, Gorman House Arts Centre
WHO: You darling, you! WHAT: Splendid WHEN: Now! WHERE: www.splendid.org.au
Says Michael Quincey O’Neill, the 2010 Open House recipient, “The Open House Artistic Residency first and foremost provided me with a concrete acknowledgement of the potential of my creative work, and in doing so, laid the foundation for me to start taking myself seriously as a writer.” CYT’s Open House program is for young independent artists aged 18-25 years seeking to create/rehearse/ develop a theatrical project. It invites emerging artists to take theatrical risks and expand their performance horizons through engaging in an artistic residency in their space for a fortnight. Contact the Artistic Director for further details and an application form by emailing karla@cytc.net or calling 02 6248 5057.
Splendid is now seeking young and emerging artists (under 30 or in the first five years of practice) across visual arts, theatre, dance, design, installation, architecture, digital media, sound, text and other creative pursuits to dream up ideas and create work for festival audiences. It’s a unique opportunity to work collaboratively in a dynamic environment that encourages critical thinking and experimentation. Splendid is unique in its focus on cross-artform collaboration and its connection with festival culture. Participating artists are invited to embrace this challenging and exhilarating context, and use it as a springboard to take their creative practices to a new level. Splendid 2011 applications are due by 5pm on Monday May 2. Forms are available at www.splendid.org.au .
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ONE DAY IN PARADISE
SHOW NO MERCY
sarah o’connor
baz ruddick
This coming April, the national Seven Million Mornings tour will commence, after which you’ll be dreaming for some Post Paradise and be desperate for THE HOLIDAYS! Boasting a concoction of bohemian beats and loquacious lyrics with a pinch of indie pop, The Holidays will be busy touring their album on their national tour, with slots at several festivals also lined up. To ease your mind as to why the tour name involves seven million mornings, lead singer Simon Paradise itself isn’t a destination Jones candidly stated that “it just – it’s the goal of sounds like a really long tour”. The getting there tour is so long that even Canberra will which is the experience the “Caribbean flavour” exciting part that is The Holidays.
Alexander Gow’s softly spoken demeanour permeated the crackling phone line, dissipating my nerves instantly. Anyone who has talked to Alexander, vocalist of OH MERCY, could confirm that his presence holds a certain unique charisma - quietly complex and genuinely friendly. Oh Mercy’s lyrically charged music is a clear and true representation of Alexander himself, and not a false marketing strategy. I was genuinely overcome by a man-crush.
Having recently released their self-produced debut album Post Paradise, The Holidays have been experiencing the pleasures that come with a hard day’s work. Their recent effort has earned them all kinds of attention, from snagging a bunch of ‘best album’ and ‘album of the week’ titles, receiving the honour of being handpicked as triple j’s final feature album of last year and making the shortlist for the Australian Music Prize. “When we found out we were on the shortlist we weren’t sure if it was a joke or not!” says a modest Jones. It appears that The Holidays weren’t “lost in the wilderness of bands” and instead produced a Post Paradise parable examining what happens when you find paradise, with Jones commenting that “nothing happens, paradise itself isn’t a destination – it’s the goal of getting there which is the exciting part.” In producing the album, the aim was to “be interesting without becoming overwhelming” and learning that “what you don’t put in is just as important as what you do”. Answering the age old question “so, what genre is your band?” Jones presents two predetermined answers. “Conga clash or post paradise”, two unique genre labels from the band who feel the need to “come up with genre names that will confuse and disorientate”. Now that The Holidays are lingering on the lips of Australian dwellers, the boys will be leaving our shores to perform in the United States at Austin’s legendary South By Southwest annual music festival. Jones comments on the current difficulty the band is having obtaining their working visas, joking that they’re “going to sneak in through Canada” and potentially gain a name for themselves as “the illegal immigrant band”. Following their overseas stint, The Holidays will be returning home for Groovin The Moo, as well as their national tour, tantalising local audiences with their electric live shows. Jones emphasises that for their live shows the band will be performing the album not “just how it is”, adding it will be “a lot more electrifying than the album” and sure to be both “interesting and surprising”. See The Holidays live at Transit Bar on Saturday April 23 or at the Groovin’ The Moo Festival at the University of Canberra on Sunday May 8. Tickets are $15 + bf for the former or $99.90 + bf for the latter, both via Moshtix.
After a brief and well-deserved solitary sojourn to Brooklyn NY, Alexander met with two time Crowded House record producer and keyboard player Mitchell Froom, to record their delightfully titled sophomore album Great Barrier Grief. As far as songwriting is concerned, Alexander takes a self-coined “naive approach”, starting with a “concept or sentiment”, which slowly develops for months at a time. “There are certain concepts that interest me more than others (an ever prevalent one being the ‘effect that a woman has over a man’). There is also a brighter sense of humour thrown in there. A lack of pretence - I feel like I have to put all my cards on the table.” There are so many great bands out there that the record labels aren’t listening to and no one gives a shit about, [then] everyone jumps on the bandwagon and tries to say they were there from the start
To compliment their raw and honest translation of emotion into lyrics, Alexander shied away from over production and layering techniques, loosely inspired by ‘60s R&B: “There is a certain way that music affects the listener when only four or five people play it. Once you turn it up past a certain level it kind of hits you in this unique way - that interests me.” Like so many up and coming Australian bands, Oh Mercy made the leap abroad to record their sophomore album, a move Alexander attributes to “a reflection on the lack of interest in our own music in Australia.” Despite being triple j unearthed winners, Alexander is no stranger to the plight of Aussie artists in a commercially driven music industry. “There are so many great bands out there that the record labels aren’t listening to and no one gives a shit about, [then] everyone jumps on the bandwagon and tries to say they were there from the start. Finally, they have the budget to make the record they wanted to in the first place, which a lot of the time means going overseas.” Despite this, Alexander holds the Australian landscape as one of his many pieces of inspiration. “I would say that I am inspired by an Australian landscape. The American culture and the landscape had nothing to do with me while I was writing and recording that album. I could have made the same-sounding record anywhere in the world.” So what can Canberra expect from Oh Mercy? Alexander puts it simply – “You can expect to pay too much for a beer, and line up to the toilet and for it to be kind of loud, and I’ll be wearing a colourful shirt.” I’m sure it’ll be much more than that... Oh Mercy are heating up the ANU Bar on Wednesday April 6. Tickets are available through Ticketek, for $19.90.
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However, it hasn’t always been that way, Fuck! I was on and Declan takes care to mention that Neighbours! That’s British India have certainly done the hard awesome! yards in terms of getting their music out there, and establishing themselves as a band. With their third album doing the rounds, a new single, March Into The Ocean, already released, and a national tour in action, it seems like British India are always working on the next thing. Declan assures me, however, that that’s not really the case.
MARCHING INTO SUCCESS zoya patel Declan Melia seems to lead a somewhat charmed life. As I sit in my over-priced Dickson sharehouse, crouched over my laptop, voicerecorder in hand, the lead singer of BRITISH INDIA is wandering around Brunswick in Melbourne, enjoying the day. “If you want a bit of context, it’s a lovely day and I’m walking around a park. Melbourne is the best city in the world!” Declan effuses. Not only does he get to gad about in Melbourne at his leisure, seeing as he lives there, Declan is also technically on tour as we speak. “The trick to touring we’ve found, is that it’s so beneficial to break it up!” He explains. British India tend to play two or three shows in areas that are near each other, and then come back to Melbourne for the rest of the week, before flying out again. “There’s been a real trend, especially in indie music in the last five years, to promote touring as being really unglamorous - four sweaty boys stuffed into a van, getting no sleep, with infighting and throwing up,” Declan laughs. Touring for us is usually a leisurely and enjoyable affair.”
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“The thing about this band is, we’re never sitting around in a boardroom talking about key demographics or anything,” he says. “I don’t really get anything out of playing British India shows other than a good vibe and a bit of a party.” And, you know, I’m guessing there’s money involved at some point, but really, Declan does seem incredibly laid back about the whole thing. It’s all part of growing older as a band, and Declan notes how things have changed since they first started out. “I think if anything, we’re just a lot less self-conscious now. When we were writing Guillotine, there were a thousand ideas that we just weren’t ready for, and we were too close minded to do something like Because of You or 90 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” he muses. “We’re more spontaneous in our writing now.” And they’re even more spontaneous with their career choices – last year British India had a cameo on Neighbours. I couldn’t resist poking for details. Turns out, Declan was less than thrilled to be on the show. “It seemed incongruous with what we were doing,” he explains, then pauses. “Or maybe I’m taking myself too seriously… Fuck! I was on Neighbours! That’s awesome!” British India are hitting up Canberra as part of their March Into The Ocean tour on Saturday April 2 at the ANU Bar. Tickets are $30.95, and are available through Ticketek.
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THE REALNESS Well, I am pretty excited that the latest LP from the legendary Pharoahe Monch is just around the corner (Look out for a review in our next ish - Ed.). His new record is entitled W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) and comes to us courtesy of the also legendary Duck Down label. Early reviews have been mixed, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless. Beats come from Exile, Marco Polo, M-Phazes, Mike Loe, Diamond D, Samiyam and Fyre Dept. Monch has enlisted a wide range of collaborators and all reports are that as a result the album is very soulful. It’s out early April. Bring it on. I’ve been banging the new albums by Raekwon, Strong Arm Steady and Saigon lately. All are impressive and I’m especially digging
the sound (predominately provided by Just Blaze) on Saigon’s The Greatest Story Never Told. For an album that was delayed for about five years, the production is typified by Just Blaze ‘in his prime’. Saigon holds his own and shows us why he is one of the most underrated in the hip-hop game. Well worth your time, this one! Drapht is set to release his latest album The Life of Riley through his own label The Ayems (with Sony distro) on Friday April 1. The album features appearances from Briggs, Trials, Mantra and Urthboy and the smash hit single Rapunzel. Obese head-honcho Pegz returns on Friday April 8 from a self-imposed hiatus with his latest full length Drama. Full of his trademark lyricism and unrelenting honesty, expect more of that Melb city boom-bap from the master with a killer line-up of beats assembled from the likes of M-Phazes, Jase, Chasm, Ta-Ku, Simplex and Plutonic Lab. Obese family members Dialectrix, Jimmy Nice, Mantra, Joe New and Illy all pop up on the guest list, while the beautiful voice of Jess Harlen is also a welcome addition. Anyone who has fallen in love with the amazing single Night Air from Jamie Woon (with Burial on co-production) will be excited to know his debut LP Mirrorwriting is due Monday April 11 on Cadent Songs. A possible contender for one of the albums of the year, if the earlier singles indicate anything. Time will tell! Over to the consistently fresh Planet Mu label now, and hot on the heels of the amazing new FaltyDL album is the latest output from Boxcutter. The Dissolve is out early April, and showcases his continuing explorations of psychedelic riddims, dubstep and hazy hip-hop. Finally, a few tidbits to put on your music-radar. Out of nowhere, Burial, Four Tet and Thom Yorke have announced a new two-tune collaborative 12” is on the horizon on Four Tet’s Text label. Pre-orders are selling out all over the web, so get busy and happy hunting for that one. London’s Deadboy, one of my fav producers of 2010, is back with a new three-track single of the always dope Numbers label in April.It’s called the Here EP and the snippets are sounding freeeeeeesh. And I gotta send a shout-out to my mans Jem and Bummy for putting me on to Tyler, The Creator and his Odd Future cohorts. Can’t wait for the new Tyler LP! To hear music from all the above and much much more, tune to The Antidote every Tues night from 9:30 – 11pm on 2XX 98.3FM.
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ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au
SMOKIN’ HOT
TURNING A NEW PAGE
niki burnside
Niki Burnside
Standing on stage at the recent Summer Rhythm Festival, hip-hop artist ILLY precedes the opening of his tune Cigarettes with a warning: “Don’t smoke”. It’s almost as if his mother is in the audience. He bounces around grinning and feeding energy to those below. The audience is made up of paint-splattered 20-somethings, plus plenty of teenagers. The paint is orange, and its source a mystery. This crowd knows all the words; they dance in a bubble of knowing happiness, because, from what I can tell, they came to the festival just for Illy – just for the songs of this well-spoken Melbourne-born law student, whose rise to fame was sudden and entirely deserved. Discovered by Daniel Merriweather only a few short years ago, Illy’s recent single It Can Wait, featuring Owl Eyes, was the # 3 and #4 most played on triple j through the first two weeks of a get just y The built-up October 2010.
DRAPHT – aka Paul Ridge – and I are talking about the important things in life: “I bought a portable air-conditioner,” he says, “but it made too much noise... I didn’t want to invest in anything in-built because I’m renting”. The musician and songwriter finished recording his latest album only three weeks ago in his own apartment, without air-conditioning. “It was the hottest summer Perth has had in a year,” he says. He also refers to it as “this bullshit summer,” and credits it with some of his mental blocks over the recording period. Nonetheless, The Life of Riley, his soon-to-be-released album, is an impressive feat. Astonishingly, Drapht has never hired a sound engineer. “I don’t think I could go into a studio now,” he says, confessing that the routine of I had the idea recording everything himself to reveal and in his own space is by far his expose the real preferred method of creating his music. “I’ve never worked Jimmy Recard and the arrogant harder on anything before,” hole that he he adds.
totally image of hiphop, but they don’t actually know what they’re talking about
On the first day of The Chase tour, however, Illy is without pretension. Asked how he gets in the right headspace for a gig, he cringes at his own words as he admits to a few minutes alone backstage, quietly preparing for the performance. Then he laughs softly and shrugs. It’s the same as when we discuss his opponents, those who misunderstand his music as aggressive. If Illy himself is at all angry about this negativity, he doesn’t show it. “They just get a totally built-up image of hip-hop, but they don’t actually know what they’re talking about. I try to take it all with a grain of salt.” He shrugs again. Out here, with the gum leaves literally glowing in the late afternoon sun, it’s hard to be annoyed about these things when there’s a gig to be enjoyed. What does he do in his spare time? Study. Illy doesn’t elaborate on his degree in Law. He could have said he takes long bubble baths and enjoys 1920s films, but it’s clear that his focus is divided two ways: music and university. Is this layered personality the appeal of Illy? Aussie hip-hop, which relies heavily on the words spoken to the music, obviously benefits from an articulate frontman. Illy’s lyrics are topical, and his fans trust his words. Somehow, it’s hard not to. Today’s fans have trusted enough to come to the Summer Rhythm Festival, whose eclectic line-up may have deterred those solely committed to hip-hop. What’s more, they’re united by orange body-art. There is a striking contrast between this calm bush setting and the poster for Illy’s tour, which is dominated by a busy highway against a backdrop of an ominous cityscape. Rain falls in sleeting, harsh droves. Despite this image, the theme of happiness dominates his album and Illy seems content. Fittingly, the festival was in aid of Mental Health Awareness. “I’m not sure what the charity is, but,” Illy grins again, “I’m happy to be here”. Illy is playing the ANU Bar on Friday April 8. Tickets are available through Ticketek for just $15!
ass really is
Based on his employment history, that latter statement is certainly saying something. Previously a rooftop carpenter, he produced such tracks as Jimmy Recard while putting in gruelling hours. “I got sunburn in winter, because I’m so pasty,” he says of his apprenticeship. “I got insomnia, and worked on two hours sleep a lot of the time.” And yet hard work was not the problem; he was simply in the wrong job. “I nearly went crazy, and so I quit.” The carpenter Paul Ridge embraced the songwriter Drapht to produce The Life of Riley. As a result, this record is less about working for the man and contains more tracks about enjoying and embracing life. One track on the new record certainly speaks to Drapht’s need for a fresh start. Titled RIP JR, the song is a response to the many people who have wondered how he will follow the huge success of Jimmy Recard, his self-confessed alter ego, for whom he has a lot of loathing. This is probably down to the fact that there is a strong sense of jealousy for Jimmy in the song. Of RIP JR, Drapht says “I had the idea to reveal and expose the real Jimmy Recard and the arrogant asshole that he really is.” Perhaps now there is less jealousy and more pity for his alter ego, as he sheds the misery of his past. Of the upcoming nationwide tour, Drapht speaks excitedly. “It’s an amazing feeling, to see everyone moving to your music, something you’ve created.” This time, there will be more Drapht and less Jimmy reaping the rewards of a hot summer’s work. But for those of you who still worship the dead, there’s no need to worry: “I think I’d have bottles thrown at me if I didn’t play Jimmy Recard,” he says, grateful to the alter ego who, despite his flaws, launched him into fame. Catch Drapht at the Groovin The Moo Festival on Sunday May 8, held at The Meadows at the University of Canberra. Tickets are $99.90 + bf and are available through Moshtix.
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METALISE Heathen Skulls don’t let up on Canberra and following the highly successful Monarch show a couple of weeks back, the team are bringing out one man band Joe Preston’s avant doom act Thrones. Mr Preston will be familiar to some as the bassist who is known for his collaborations with The Melvins, High On Fire and Sunn o))) to name but a few. Also along for this special one off show is John Wiese, who has played with such luminaries as Wolf Eyes, Sunn o))) and Merzbow. At this stage 4 Dead are once again brutalising the ears of the early arrivals and the whole shebang hits the ANU Bar on Wednesday April 6. Musically on the complete polar opposite of the heavy spectrum is the announcement of ‘70s legends and Randy Rhodes’ first band Quiet Riot doing a package tour of Australia with ‘80s LA glam rockers Warrant and LA Guns. I have heard rumours of a similar package tour happening later in the year; this may well whet the appetites of fans of ‘80s-style hard rock. This show hits the ANU Bar on Saturday April 30. Locals Aeon Of Horus have officially launched their new web den, www.aeonofhorus.net, and to celebrate, visitors can download their debut self-titled EP for free. Make sure you get to your computer/ phone and pay a visit. The Amenta are on the road for the national Vo1d tour and the 18+ show (bring your ID) hits the ANU Bar on Saturday April 9. Also along for the show are Sydney’s Ouroboros and Wagga act Namesphyxia. The band are launching their Vo1d EP made up of a new track and re-recorded versions of their earlier work. Soundworks deliver again; should be a rad show. The Basement’s shows for the next couple of weeks include a weekend of birthday shows on Friday April 1 and Saturday April 2 with Friday’s celebration of Brad Gallagher’s 30th seeing shows from Immorium, Infektion and AVN. Greg’s birthday on Saturday night has Escape Syndrome and Beneath a Broken Sky performing. Friday April 8 is the big Nirvana tribute with John Lollback, Looking Glass, Inside The Exterior and Na Maza playing songs from MTV Unplugged, Incesticide, Bleach, In Utero and Nevermind respectively. Saturday April 9 has a four band bill featuring Empirical, Friend of Enemy, On The 8Th Day and Frostbite. Also coming up on Friday April 15 is the interesting 15 Fest with 15 bands playing 15 minute sets. I will get the full line-up announced for the next issue. My dear friend Unkle K (the K being for Kronos) is a veritable encyclopaedia of metal knowledge and has emailed me a billion times suggesting new bands to check out. I’ve decided to replace my inane now playing list with Uncle K’s Band of the Week and will post his suggestions for your underground listening pleasure each column. Unkle K recommends: The Slomatics – www.myspace.com/ slomatics. Check ‘em and their forthcoming split with UK doomsters Conan – whom you should also check out! JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com
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AMENTA AS ANYTHING Nambucco Deliria As I’m sure all you young people know already, the world is changing. The digital age hastens this change like never before; take this example for instance – in the old days you’d get your pay (in cash, in an envelope), give a bit to your Mum and then leg it down to the record and tape emporium to invest in large quantities of vinyl, marketed by huge multinational record companies formed entirely for the purpose of relieving us of our cash... Today? Bands are giving away their lavishly packaged goods to anyone who’ll take them, so desperate are they to retain some form of control over the distribution of same. The record industry is dead – or at least on its We realised last legs. that there was
a model that would steal power back from the record companies and return it to the artist
To this end, Australian extreme metallists THE AMENTA have just released their new album, Vo1d, for free on the internet. But why? Keyboardist/songwriter Tim Pope was happy to supply me with an answer.
“The seed of the idea was planted just after the release of our second album, n0n. Our French record label, Listenable Records, sent out promotional copies of our album all over the world for review and sent our copies to us at the same time. I remember being able to download my album illegally before I even had a copy of my artwork in my hand. There seems to be some sort of internet award for being the first person to upload an album. It is completely contrary to my understanding of the artist/ fan relationship. “After this issue it got us thinking about the state of the music industry as it stands currently. We realised that it isn’t really possible to ‘beat’ the illegal uploaders (and I believe uploading is the crime, not downloading. You can’t blame the cat for eating the meat if you leave it out), so there had to be another model. Eventually we realised that there was a model that would steal power back from the record companies and return it to the artist. If we gave away our ‘product’ for free then we could choose how it is marketed and presented to the fan, while also making sure that only a good quality copy with full artwork and lyrics would be available.” Whilst being an old duffer who still loves the feel of a big 12 incher (shut it, Sko...) I have to admit that this does sound like a good way for bands to maintain some sort of integrity and, more importantly, control over the whole sorry mess that music ownership seems to have become. Anyways, get over to www.theamenta.com to download Vo1d now. And then you’ll be ready for their ANU show, which promises to be a bit of an event. “We have just finished our first production rehearsal and we have some very interesting lighting and effects that we have never used before so people will experience a full sensory overload. Come out to see us at the ANU Bar on the 9th of April before the music industry completely prolapses.” Catch The Amenta live at the ANU Bar on Saturday April 9, supported by Ruins, Ouroboros and Nemesphyxia.
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the word
on albums
album of the issue Architecture in Helsinki Moment Bends [Modular]
Architecture in Helsinki have proved once again they are masters of majestic moments with fourth album Moment Bends. It’s taken a while for the record to be released, after it was shelved under the working title Vision Revision. First single Contact High is driven by Cameron Bird’s falsetto, bopping synth lines in the chorus and gem lyrics like “Mystical forces are circling me/while perfect nostalgia is dating the enemy”. Escapee is high energy, darting with slick piano arpeggios, springy delay guitars and euphoric chant vocals, whilst W.O.W is a desperate call for late night love. Full of up-tempo synthesized pop, AIH have streamlined their multi-instrumental urges towards an immediate, groovier sound. Songs that best exemplify this are 2008 single That Beep, the frazzled I Know Deep Down and the chippy, blipped Denial Style. However, deeper listening is also rewarded, especially with the surreal Sleep Talkin and album closer B4 3D. No matter how much a band changes their musical style, it should only matter that the exuberant euphoria of Architecture in Helsinki remains intact on Moment Bends. MATT PETHERBRIDGE
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Adalita Adalita [Liberation Music]
J Mascis Several Shades of Why [Inertia/Sub Pop]
Oh Land Oh Land [Epic Records]
Having been Australia’s premier rock chick for many years as the frontwoman of Magic Dirt, Adalita has released her much anticipated debut solo album. While Magic Dirt morphed between good hard rocking and powerpop, this music falls into neither category. Dedicated to the late MD bassist Dean Turner, who had a strong influence in its realisation, this collection brings together songs written by Adalita that didn’t fit the band’s format due to their slower tempo and deeply personal nature.
For someone who has spent the best part of the last 300 years making ears bleed with some of the loudest riffage in alt rock, J Mascis doesn’t need to hide behind a wall of amps. He’s well qualified in thrashing out gonzo solos but can just as equally shift down to bucolic acoustic rambles. Along for the ride is a veritable who’s who of indie rock: Sophie from Godspeed/Silver Mt Zion, Kevin from Broken Social Scene, Ben from Band of Horses, Kurt Vile from the closing credits to Eastbound and Down S2. Not along for the ride are drums, nary a tom in earshot.
Oh Land (aka, Nanna Øland Fabricius) could be the female pop singer of 2011, even if she has previously established herself in 2008 with debut album Fauna in her country of origin, Denmark. Before giving her natural-born musical talent its due Oh Land bucked against her parents’ expectations and went into dancing. But like sportsmen with their knees, eventually her body gave out, and a back injury forced her to give it up. Now that Oh Land pursues songwriting it’s easy to see that ten years of dancing has informed her style.
While other musicians contributed, this is essentially a one woman project, with Adalita playing guitar, piano, drums and percussion and taking most of the CD packaging photos. The supporting instruments are overshadowed by the strength and intensity of Adalita’s vocals and the roar and shiver of her guitar, which make for a heady mix. In a collection of highlights that pulses with emotion, Hot Air is the standout with its compelling background loop that holds the listener on a visceral level. Invite Me, with its reverberating guitar and layered vocals at the finish is a riveting portrayal of intense physical longing. Good Girl, which teasingly promises better behaviour, charms with the backing vocals of Amaya Laucirica. Those who attended the 2010 Blondie show had a foretaste of Adalita’s debut, and most were mystified by her performance. RORY McCARTNEY
Usually buried beneath layers of distortion, Mascis’ plaintive croak is given the starring role, delivering in spades. There’s always been a sense of longing and regret in his voice and sans electricity it positively aches. Make It Right ambles into existence like Seemed Like The Thing To Do (from 1994’s Without a Sound) Part II. That’s not a complaint, and the addition of flute makes perfect sense. It’s one of the better songs on the album. Several Shades of Why is a subdued album with small aims – it meets them easily.
Her new New York location suits her fresh pop sound on the self-titled release. With a voice as soft and sweet as Oh Land’s it’d be easy for her to play the cutesy up a little too much. But there’s a very subtle element of R’n’B and percussion aplenty kneaded into even the gentlest of songs like Perfection. This could be a result of N.E.R.D’s Pharrell Williams’ production work on the album.
More than a curiosity but a little saggy in parts, it nevertheless provides the crucial balance in Mascis’ fuzz heavy catalogue. The Dinosaur Jr reunion rolls on, delivering the goods in the most unexpected places.
There’s so much addictiveness in the melodies, particularly in songs like White Nights or We Turn it Up; they’re a lot of fun to sing! In the lead up to the album’s release, Oh Land leaked a few songs which were subsequently remixed. The album is filled with songs made for reworking, which is part of the beauty of it. It’s a collection of singles, and not just a complete work.
JUSTIN HOOK
Peter Rosewarne
singled out
with Dave Ruby Howe
Teddy Trouble The Great Indoors [Dream Damage]
The Stanton Warriors The Warriors [Central Station Records]
For about four months at the end of last year, literally all I heard about was Teddy Trouble. Did I have their CD? What did I think of it? Wasn’t it just about the coolest thing I’d heard all year? Of course, like a complete numpty, I’d managed to miss the local band’s launch where every last copy of the ridiculously limited run EP was snapped up by eager punters. Lucky, then, that local label Dream Damage has advised they will be printing up another stack of copies soon, because The Great Indoors shouldn’t be allowed to slide silently by, underappreciated.
Who has seen The Stanton Warriors do a DJ set before? Ok you, you and you, and you over in the back there, so a few people. Good. Take that tactile funk epiphany and fold it over on itself enough times so that it looks like a little flat disc with a hole in it; that is The Warriors in a nutshell. Ok maybe not a nutshell but a CD case nonetheless.
From the moment the opening salvo bursts from the speakers – all bouncing bass, chiming 12-string guitar and peppy drum work – you know you’re onto a winner. Lead-off track Byths essentially sets the template for what’s to follow: busy basslines and guitars blending together over snappy rhythms while the oblique lyrics cover, at various points, growing up, the apocalypse and, memorably, fat skeletons - “You can tell he’s fat,” we’re told, “because of the way the skin hangs from his back.” My rather scuffed and sorry looking copy of the disc will attest to just how much time it’s spent in and out of stereos and computer drives over the past few months. The Great Indoors goes up against anything else from anywhere else – that was released last year. PETER KRBAVAC
This long awaited collection of Stanton originals is an egg carton of bumpy breakbeat fury, a dozen slamming records created with only one thing in mind, to make you do that embarrassing involuntary shimmy like a super fly drunk dad. The disc begins with their latest crossover jewel Get Up and delivers blows so quickly you would swear they were aimed at Casey Heynes. Bushido POW!, Dakota BIFF! Shoot Me Down WHAMMO! It’s like a god damn Batman comic and I’m the camply dressed villain. Luckily for our butt muscles, the lads reel it back in with Superstar, but from then on in, the recipe is all head shredding bass bins and wobbly synths. Just when your Air Force ones are starting to buckle, the disc climaxes with a nice cruisy album ender in Out Of My Head. Ahhh The Warriors just fucked me and then spooned me to sleep. BLISS (Galv, you’re a legend – Ed.).it. tim galvin
Various Fania Records 19641980: The Original Sound of New York [Strut Latin] What jolly folk Latin Americans are! This two disc retrospective spans 16 years from the formation of New York Latin label Fania records. Judging from the music, it was a swinging fun time for all. The album follows the development of Fania’s sound during its key years. Genre fans will be interested to know it includes early Johny Pacheco and Larry Harlow outings from 1964, classic Fania collaborations between Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, seminal Latin soul (Joe Bataan, Ray Barretto), boogaloo and epic outings by Fania’s in-house supergroup, The Fania All-Stars. This means diddly-squat to me; I was more concerned with jiving around my kitchen while doing the dishes. This collection is not for introspective moments. No. It’s a chirpy house-work afternoon album. Or the CD you throw on in the early stages of a BBQ when everyone’s too sober to really have fun yet. The Original Sound of New York is infectious and perfectly ignorable in a “somebody-else’s small child rabbiting on about their week at school” kind of way. It’s charming and sweet, you like it, it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, but you’re not inclined to pay a great deal of attention to every little detail. That’s the thing with Latin music – it does all sound rather samey. On the other hand, reggae sounds samey too. So, you know, roll with it. Or jiggle with it. You won’t be able to help yourself. Chanel Cole
Black Eyed Peas Just Can’t Get Enough [UMA] How dare those Black Eyed Peas. After so many crimes against my ears the Peas have taken things to a new level. Gulp. They’ve actually made something half good. Amongst a sea of unnecessary auto-tune and Fergzilla squall there’s a casual, nodding beat and some faded neon synths. The not shit trick doesn’t last for long, you’ll be pleased to know, as BEP soon ruin it all with Will.i.am’s take on candy raving hardfloor which sounds like the ugliest thing since, well, Dirty Bit. And balance is restored to the universe.
Diddy Dirty Money Coming Home ft. Skylar Grey [UMA] Just like the artlessly tacked on title, the two original Dirty Money girls are useless. Or they’re not put to use, sashaying drowsily and perhaps cooing softly in the background. This is the Diddy show and as big of a douche as he may be, he actually kills it here. The terrific beat helps but it’s great to hear Puffy finally energised enough to give a fuck.
Jessie J Price Tag ft. B.o.B. [UMA] Just when it looked like the best week ever for pop in Singled Out, here comes Jessie J to spoil the fun. This is just weak. Not even the obligatory rap feature from B.o.B. can save this from being about as hard as my dick after eight hours of grandma scat porn. Which is to say as soft as an udon noodle.
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the word
on films
WITH MELISSA WELLHAM
When a documentary is by far the most thrilling film showing in cinemas at any point in time, you know that either a) the thrillers aren’t doing their job, or b) the documentary is pretty damn fantastic. In this case, it’s a combination of the two. Inside Job is the most edge-of-yourseat film I’ve seen in a while, even though I already knew the end of the story – that end being a consumer and capitalist catastrophe known as the GFC. The thrillers on the other hand? Less than electrifying.
quote of the issue “A financial engineer builds dreams. But when those dreams turn out to be nightmares, other people pay for it.” Andrew Sheng, The Inside Job
I Am Number Four
Limitless
Inside Job
I Am Number Four is a formulaic, by-numbers affair. It features insipid actors plus an appalling script, multiplied by a ridiculous premise. The final equation, I Am Number Four = negative. (I Am Number Four? More like I Am Number Two! – Bossman).
I went into Limitless with such low expectations that even if it had consisted of an entertaining monkey dancing on the roof of a car, I would have been pleasantly surprised. Luckily (even though that wasn’t the plot of the film), I was still pleasantly surprised.
Inside Job gives us the inside story behind the GFC. While a documentary about home loans and interest and bankers might sound like fairly dry material, it’s anything but. This film makes hedge funds and collateralised debt obligation interesting.
John (Alex Pettyfer) is just your regular teen – except that he’s an ALIEN. This twist is revealed within the first five minutes of the film, and so ends any potential for suspense. John is one of the last of his race, being hunted down by the evil Mogadorians. But what John finds even more worrying than being an endangered species is his burgeoning relationship with the equally bland human Sarah (Diana Agron). There’s also some stuff about a magical blue rock, evil alien bulldogs, and perhaps some sort of attempt at a narrative climax – but it’s all very forgettable. I Am Number Four might’ve been nothing more than a sci-fi action-packed thriller – which could have been fun – except that there’s not much action, and a lot of angst. It tries to add emotional depth to the characters, but it’s honestly difficult to care about John and Sarah’s trite and tame relationship when the rest of the plot concerns genocide. The film also sets itself up for a sequel, which is annoyingly arrogant. The only thing worse than a bad film? A bad film that assumes audiences are so stupid they will pay money to see it continued. Melissa Wellham
Eddie (Bradley Cooper) goes from disheveled failing writer to stock-market whiz and genius in a few short weeks – all thanks to a wonder drug that unlocks the parts of the brain that we humans don’t normally use. This means that Eddie is pretty much good at everything when he’s on the drug, and basically starts to kick ass. Of course, wonder drugs that turn you into the equivalent of a brainiac superheros are generally illegal – and some dire consequences unfold, with a bit of carnage here and there. Cooper and his striking baby blues are surprisingly charismatic in the lead role. Some heavy-handed direction from Neil Burger does warrant an eye roll or two (someone should tell him he’s no David Fincher), but even that doesn’t drag down the film too much. While the plot is riddled with holes (murder subplots get left by the wayside! People don’t pay back loan sharks even though they’re rolling in cash! A stupid romantic storyline gets revived with no explanation at all!), there is still enough enjoyment here to make Limitless worth a watch. Get some popcorn, lower your expectations, and just generally go with it. MEGAN McKEOUGH
46
The Oscar-winning Inside Job is outrageously depressing, as many Academy Awardwinning films are. Research and numbers are presented in a clear and concise fashion, and there are extensive interviews with politicians, economic academics and finance insiders. This might not seem like it has the power to be souldestroying, but the corruption of politicians and selfishness of rich regulators is disheartening. How did people on Wall Street get so, well, evil? The profiles of the people on Wall Street are truly terrifying, and only slightly less scary than American Psycho’s serial killer banking executive Patrick Bateman. These financial advisors are so cold-blooded they are practically loan sharks, and they’re desperate to make a deal no matter the cost. The scariest thing about Inside Job, though, is that the people behind the GFC – the people who effectively caused millions of individuals to lose their homes and jobs – are for the most part still running the industry. They’re on financial advisory boards, they work for banks, and they have outrageously large houses with multiple jacuzzis. Still, it’s surprisingly funny, sharp and smart; Inside Job is necessary viewing – and more stimulating than a stimulus package. MELISSA WELLHAM
the word on dvds
Machete [Sony] Machete might well be the most politically astute and courageous film in recent memory. Whilst director Roberto Rodriguez sketched out the idea long before Arizona’s controversial border protection laws were enacted – in turn sparking an ugly public debate about the rights of Mexican immigrants – it’s impossible to view Machete outside this context. Machete (Danny Trejo) is a Mexican Federale; a good cop mired in a sea of corruption and bribery. Three years after his family were murdered by brutal drug lord Torrez (a brilliantly over the top Steven Segal) Machete wanders the Texan streets; an illegal alien eking out a meagre existence as a day labourer. When a slimy gringo offers Machete a suitcase full of cash to assassinate a rabid anti-immigration politician (Robert de Niro), he accepts. Soon enough the film starts unravelling at blistering speed as heads are severed, litres of blood are spilt and limbs fly as Machete is forced to defend his almost innocence. Rodriguez loads up plenty of knowing winks; legendary gore FX man Tom Savini as a henchman, referencing his cameo in the original Dawn of the Dead, Cheech Marin as a pot smoking priest, Michelle Rodriguez as an impertinent freedom fighter and Don Johnson as a drawling vicious good ol’ boy vigilante. In the world of grizzled and pock-marked Mexican character actors, Danny Trejo as Machete reigns supreme. But stepping into the leading role limelight has proven to be a risky move and in a film glistening with supporting actor delights Trejo is the weakest link. Quite obviously playing the stoic pillar of strength whilst the world collapses around him, Trejo can’t quite get the pitch right. In the end it’s a moot point – Machete is eye-popping, fast-paced brilliant fun. justin hook
Gavin and Stacey (box set) [Baby Cow Productions]
Immigration Nation – The Secret History of Us [Madman]
Gavin and Stacey has everything you could want in a TV show. Romance, bromance, drama, a very strange goth and an inappropriate old lady. It follows the romance of English Gavin and Welsh Stacey who meet over the phone through work. Their romance blossoms and the first episode picks up as they are about to meet each other in person for the very first time. Throughout the three seasons, their relationship goes through all manner of trials and tribulations – some the audience can relate to and others which are a bit far-fetched (but make for hilarious viewing). Written by James Corden (who plays Gavin’s needy best friend Smithy) and Ruth Jones (who plays Stacey’s odd best friend Nessa), Gavin and Stacey has some unbelievably sweet moments that would make even the toughest viewer’s bottom lip quiver.
Think of this as a version of Howard Zinn’s landmark 1980 publication A People’s History of the United States. Like Zinn’s book, this doco gives voice to the forgotten people, the ones forcibly removed both from the pages of history and from the land by that old paragon of British Imperialism, the White Australia Policy. Long before anyone here had slurped a pho, gorged a pizza or regretted a kebab our Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, could be found lecturing world leaders at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference that no way would he support a racial equality clause and fat bloody chance he’d let any of those wily Japanese past our borders. Nearly a century later, politicians seem to read from the same noxious script.
Supporting the main cast are Gavin and Stacey’s family members who provide depth and background to the main characters, and help give the viewer the impression they know the characters well. A notable standout is Welsh standup comedian Rob Brydon who is perfectly cast in the role of Stacey’s not yet out but definitely gay uncle Bryn. Perhaps the best part of this show is the relationship main character Gavin has with his best friend Smithy. It is reminiscent of JD and Turk’s relationship on Scrubs, though slightly more dramatic and less cheesy. Whether a fourth season is made or not (speculation suggests so), the first three seasons (and Christmas special) are more than enough to have people saying “you schlaaag” and “oh, what’s occurring?” Clare Butterfield
For 75 years, it was an immigration policy supported by both sides of politics that doggedly strived to ensure Australia remained as homogonous as possible. The land of opportunity… So long as you were white. A few rabble-rousers (Charles Perkins) attacked the edifice, but the institutional strength of ‘white’ Australia was near indomitable. Yet cracks were appearing. Menzies tried to stem the flow with the Colombo Plan, the first mass advertising campaign promoting Australia as a great, not really that racist country. It failed. Whitlam said he cared, but the figures and facts suggest otherwise. It was Fraser who reversed the rot and welcomed thousands of fleeing Vietnamese; one of the reasons he’s hated by the new generation of conservatives. Says it all really. But history is contestable. And there are large swathes of our populace longing for days of yore; a mythical place that never even existed, as Immigration Nation makes so plainly clear. Riveting, angry and essential stuff. justin hook
47
the word
BLACKBOX
on games
Little Big Planet 2 Developer: Media Molecule Platform: PS3 Length: 5+ hrs Rating: Worth grabbing Before I get too far ahead of myself, I should explain that despite being one of the Playstation’s premier titles, I never played the original Little Big Planet (LBP) much. I mention this not only as a means to explain why this review is devoid of any blow-by-blow comparisons, but because I’m a regular spouter of the expression “good game, but too similar to the first”. As such the following review comes with the following disclaimer: “Hey this shit seemed wacky and novel to me, but if they did it before and now it’s boring, then balls eh?” Like my own, the LBP2’s package is a highly polished one. The graphics are top notch, the levels immaculately modelled and the menus are even narrated by Stephen Fry himself. That said, the game isn’t without its quirks, such as when your character decides to inexplicably die when coming in contact with some inconspicuous scenery. But when it comes to the main game, the issues are few and far between. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the community content. Whilst the idea of being able to play community generated content is theoretically great, the games that I tried were either buggy, pointless or just outright lame. Whilst there were a few that provided some longer moments of fun, such as the Drake’s Fortune themed mod, don’t expect to find hours of play here, especially if you’re not prepared to spend even more hours trawling through mixed quality content. Still, it’s a cool concept that nicely complements the game’s story mode. In said story mode, you find yourself working your way through a range of side scrolling levels. Whilst there is a reasonable amount of diversity on offer - with some levels offering the ability to drive furry forms of transport and others pay homage to an old-arcade or two - I couldn’t help but think it was all a bit tame. Whereas a game like Mario Galaxy had me saying “that’s awesome” time and time again, LBP’s wow factor petered out faster than expected. This comes somewhat as a surprise given that, as the community content demonstrates, the LBP engine is capable of many things. Unfortunately, it just seems that the LBP level designers just aren’t taking as much acid as those over at Nintendo. Apart from being a bit samey, the story mode is also a little short and pretty easy. That said, it’s still fun to play, especially with a mate. If you’re just looking for some light-hearted entertainment, LBP2 has you covered. Whilst it’s probably not worth breaking the bank for, LBP2 is still a good one to own. TORBEN SKO
This is a Blackbox community service announcement: Contrary to the tales your mother (and TDK) told you, as yet there is no scientific proof that watching too much television, or sitting too close to the set will give you square eyes. There are, however, a few telltale signs that you’ve got a problem: 1) You refuse to go out on Saturday nights because the (damn) ABC decided that would be the best night for Spooks (ABC Sat 8.30pm). 2) The TV Guide is the first favourite in your web browser. 3) You spend your Sunday in the company of Macgyver (11 Sun 2pm), Magnum PI (7Mate Sun 12pm) and Airwolf (7Mate Sun 1pm). 4) You’ve adopted the catchphrases of your favourite characters. 5) You really believe vampires (and their slayers) walk the earth, bartenders in the wild west sounded like crack dealers, President Bartlett was the leader of the free world, we will boldly go where no man has gone before, serial killers aren’t all bad and that the truth really is out there. If you identify with more than two of these, seek help now. Blackbox recommends booking tix for TV’s Greatest Hits – The Concert. Conductor and host Guy Noble, the Partridge Bunch Singers, the Gilligan’s Castaway Orchestra, and some special surprise guests will overdose you on themes from your fave shows. Think The Banana Splits, The Addams Family, Fawlty Towers, The Simpsons, Skippy, Prisoner and Mr Squiggle. It’s at the NSW State Theatre on May 5. Tix from Ticketmaster. Finally, a better game show than those shows where people compete by doing home renos. Car Sharks (7Mate Sat 2pm) pits two teams against each other to customise the same car. It’s an English show so it’s more tongue in cheek than nail biting. And it features some quite hilarious matchups – vicars vs tarts, graffiti artists vs fine artists, etc. The folks at Aunty have been getting all 20th century with their docudrama. The latest to be served up is Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo (ABC1 Sun Apr 17, Mon Apr 18 8.30pm). It may not be on the top of your reading list these days but when a young Ita Buttrose and Kerry Packer launched Cleo in the ‘70s it was cutting edge, controversial and changed the concept of women’s magazines in Australia. Docos to check out include The War You Don’t See (SBS1 Sun Apr 10 8.35pm) in which John Pilger looks at the way wars are reported, The Story of Science (SBS1 Tue Apr 12 8.30pm) a six parter that looks at the science that changed the world, Crack House USA (ABC1 Wed Apr 13 9.30pm) which follows a crew of drug dealers in Chicago as federal authorities monitored them, Who Killed Maggie Thatcher (SBS1 Sun Apr 3 9.30pm) which looks at the career of Britain’s Iron Lady, and The Secret Life of Chaos (SBS1 Tue Apr 5 8.30pm). Movies to look out for include Gone With the Wind (GEM Sun Apr 3 3.45pm), Devil Girl from Mars (Mon Apr 4 12.30am), Surf’s Up (Go! Fri Apr 8 8pm), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (11 Sun Apr 3 8.30pm), Lake Mungo (SBS1 Wed Apr 6 10.05pm), Incident at Loch Ness (SBS1 Wed Apr 13 10.05pm), The Lost Thing (ABC1 Sun Apr 3 4.45pm). TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com
48
the word
on gigs
BLAST! Canberra Theatre Centre Link Bar Friday March 18 Organised and presented by the extremely talented (and semi-local) Omar Musa, Blast! was the perfect exposition of the rising tide of the spoken word. Globally, poetry slams have been garnering more publicity and attendance than ever before, and locally, the ACT is producing some amazing performers: Omar Musa and his beatboxing companion Kodak (The Moment) hail from Q’Beyan, and Adam Hadley (god luvim) blew away those attending with three pieces walking the line between tragedy and comedy. Blast! brought in talent from all over – acts from Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and even the New York-based MC Lesson – but a few themes linked the diverse pieces. Notably, the right of women to exist equally with men was approached from a dozen dizzying angles and kept close to home with pieces by Lesson, indigo and Musa. The approach was extremely relaxed: folk of all ages sat on the floor of the Canberra Theatre’s Link Bar in front of a small stage, and aside from the house lights the only nod to showbiz was the extremely talented DJ Rush on the decks. The personal vibe was something common to poetry slams and readings around the world; the poets were humble and grateful to their audience in a way that resonated powerfully with those listening. The line-up of Blast! showed the many facets of spoken word. Musa opened with an introduction to the difference between English class poetry (some of the iambic pentameters we all learned and loved [or loathed! -Ed.] at school) and the newer forms of the art, and in short order the audience was exposed to lines that could be recognised as stand-up, hip-hop, theatrical performance, blues, drama and more than a touch of the avant garde. Spoken word has no boundaries: the audience was never sure whether indigo was addressing them or performing, Hadley led the crowd into chanting excitedly about a tragic death and Kodak displayed awe-inspiring talent and humour as a living beatbox machine. A highlight of the proceedings was sometime Crikey columnist Ben Pobije, who pointed out that poetry is much less restrictive than stand-up comedy – a tough position for a performer with shows lined up at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He mixed absurdity, play-acting and political comment in his piece on incipient madness, in which he rang everyone he knew to let them know that he had lost his mind. He exuded obvious enjoyment that was infectious for the audience, inciting surprised guffaws, rolling on the floor and tears of laughter. The same sense of the unexpected pervaded EZB’s set, as she rattled off repetitions of famous Australians in an expertly choreographed lampoon of bogan culture. One of the many things that have to be seen to be believed about a night like Blast! is that ten minutes of “Lleyton Hewitt, Lleyton Hewitt, Lleyton Hewitt... Ricky Ponting” can be not only entertaining but side-achingly funny. It’s all in the inflection.
Photos courtesy of Fasterlouder Photographer: masrya
A recurring theme in the after-show question and answer session was “How do we find more of this magic?” It was clear from the attitude of the audience that the show had opened the eyes of all involved, your correspondent included; luckily, the answer was clear. Canberra has its own spoken word scene! I know it may have evaded notice thus far, but be aware: The Front and Smith’s host Traverse, and the Phoenix’s Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! recently had 23 (23!) poets performing at a single show. In a world where we can watch world-class TV at the drop of a mouse button, Blast! made it clear that more personal art forms can give the mass media machine a run for its money. James Fahy
49
GIG GUIDE March 30 - April 06 wednesday march 30 Arts Exhibition: Food For Thought
Opening 6pm, running ‘til April 10. Free. ANCA GALLERY, ROSEVEAR PLACE
The Marriage of Figaro
New sparkling and racy chamber production of one of the best–loved of all operas. Thestreet.org.au . THE STREET THEATRE
Alliance Française French Film Festival Running from March 16 to April 3 at various locations. Head to www. frenchfilmfestival.org for info. VARIOUS LOCATIONS
Comedy
Live
Comedy
Your Sweet Disposition
Tommy Tiernan
7-10pm, free.
THE LIGHTHOUSE BAR
Annie and the Armadillos Good time favourites. 7-10pm. THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN
Open Mic Night 9pm, free.
POT BELLY BAR
Last Dinosaurs & Papa Vs Pretty
Another big double header of quality live Australian musack at Transit Bar. $10+BF through Moshtix. TRADIES CLUB, DICKSON
Oceanics
Tales in Space, The Kahnz. THE PHOENIX PUB
Open Mic Comedy Night
friday april 1
Live
ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
Silent Disco
Academy Fridays
The Go Set
With Attila the Stockbroker.
Dress up party: construction workers. Tix on sale now at the venue.
Wednesday Lunchtime Live
Smooth Groovy House
MOOSEHEADS PUB
WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE
Feat. Super Mariusz and Spilks. 10pm – 4am.
Something Different
Soul B In It
thursday march 31 Arts Belco Flicks III - Offspring
Short films – big stories. 7.30 – 9pm. Free but bookings recommended. Phone 6264 0232. BELCONNEN THEATRE
Floating Me
With The Red Vest, Yoko Oh No. 8pm, $18/$20 at the door.
TULIP LOUNGE
Warm your heart and boogie your soul with Buick and the crew. Free entry. TRANSIT BAR
Live
KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE
The Aston Shuffle Listening Party
Come check their new rekkid! Feat. Cheese and Offtapia. 8pm, free. TRINITY BAR
Slugabed [UK] THE CLUBHOUSE
8pm, free.
Urban Playground
R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm. MONKEY BAR
Strangeways Is Back... Alright!
Those loveable The Smiths loving rogues return to Transit Bar for the first time in 2011. Free.
With Hoddle. 7.30pm, $2/$18/$16 (MFS members). THE MERRY MUSE
Japan Tsunami Benefit Gig
Corporate Takedown, When Giants Sleep, Asylum, InDistrict, They Killed Everyone and more. AXIS YOUTH CENTRE, QUEANBEYAN
British India
With Boy in a Box and City Riots. Tix from britishindia.com.au .
THE PHOENIX PUB
Plugged In – Heat 3
Hung Parliament, The Naddiks, Duck Puppy, Venom Inside. 7.30pm, free. MOOSEHEADS PUB
Something Different THE PHOENIX PUB
Come nurse the wounds of a working weekend with Canberra’s finest start-oda-week shindig. TRANSIT BAR
Multicultural Carinval
Head to the myspace for more info. AXIS YOUTH CENTRE, QUEANBEYAN
Buddhist Meditation Classes Drop-in any week. Class fee $14. For details call 9387 7717 or www. meditateincanberra.org . WESLEY CHURCH
ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
tuesday april 05
Natalie Magee Trio CASINO CANBERRA
Mark Wilkinson
live
THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
Weaves a fresh new sound on the Australian music landscape. 8pm, $10.
Electric Jellyfish
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
Weekend People (Melb)
With Voss and Big Score. Free.
Something Different
John Waters - Looking Through a Glass Onion
THE PHOENIX PUB
Dinner and show $79, 6.30pm. Show only $45, 8.30pm. SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB WODEN
sunday april 03
Movies on the Big Screen
From 3-6pm. Head to their myspace for all the info. AXIS YOUTH CENTRE, QUEANBEYAN
Dee Jay Gosper Duo
Arts
Karaoke Love
Special K
2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival
TRANSIT BAR
CASINO CANBERRA
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
Featuring Ashleigh Mannix. 8pm, free entry.
Fall Ball
Swinging jazz with Gordon Webster and band (NY) and swing dance performances. jam@jumptown.org . ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, REID
saturday april 02 Arts 2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival
The Clink of Ice (2010, MA15+). 7pm. ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Closing event: The Wedding Cake and A Perfect Date (both 2010, MA15+). 2.30pm.
ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
Live
Come murder the classics and get down with Tues night Karaoke at Transit Bar.
wednesday april 06 comedy Jay Sullivan
Jazz and blues from 1-3pm.
Comedy Club at Civic Pub. Tix: comedyact.com.au .
THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN
CIVIC PUB
Sunday Sessions On the Deck
Live
Ariel
2pm, free.
CANBERRA IRISH CLUB
Miles Away
Plus supports. 2pm.
AXIS YOUTH CENTRE, QUEANBEYAN
Mikelangelo and The Tin Star With Saint Clare. $20/$15. THE PHOENIX PUB
Pro Blues & Roots Jam
Featuring The Simpletones. 2pm, free entry. HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON
50
The Bootleg Sessions
With The Fuelers. 6pm, free.
HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB
Timber
THE DECK, REGATTA POINT
Oscar
2011 Alliance Française French Film Festival
Dance
live
Ashley Feraude, Team Wing, DJ Rush and more. $15 on the door.
April’s Caravan Vintage Clothing Housewarming
Friday Night Acoustic Series
ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE
4Sound 6pm Deck Sessions
Reunite for a rare Australian tour! Incredible psych-punk band! 7.30pm.
ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
Of Gods and Men (2010, MA15+). 7pm.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE
The Cottars
ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB
TRANSIT BAR
monday april 04
Faux Real
Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds
Feat The Only. 9pm ‘til late.
Recruit your brainiest friends and come along to test your knowledge Wednesday nights at Transit
THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN
Jemist
7pm.
Fame Trivia
Jazz and blues from 1-3pm.
Live
Watussi
Bradley Kunda - classical guitar. 12.40.
Arial
Trivia Night
KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE
THE PHOENIX PUB
Dance
A BITE TO EAT CAFE
TRANSIT BAR
Hippo Live: Greg Stott Trio HIPPO LOUNGE
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
The Chris Harland Blues Band. 5-7pm. Free.
Arts
8pm, free.
POT BELLY BAR
Designer Wino tour. Tix through the venue.
Sunday Best
Burley Griffin
Ithica/Jazz Barry and Dylan Hekimian. Free. THE PHOENIX PUB
Oh Mercy
Great Barrier Grief tour. With Gossling. Tix through Ticketek. ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
51
GIG GUIDE April 06 - April 10 wednesday april 06 live The Cope Street Parade
An enormous repertoire of jazz classics, in addition to thrilling compositions. 7.30pm, $10. THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
Something Different Open Mic Night 9pm, free.
POT BELLY BAR
Fame Trivia
Recruit your brainiest friends and come along to test your knowledge Wednesday nights at Transit TRANSIT BAR
thursday april 07
Something Different
Nirvana Tribute Night
Matilda Bay Tasting Night
THE BASEMENT
Come along for a wicked line-up and score some cool freebies and prizes. 4.30pm – 10pm.
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
Something Different
Capital Uprising
Matilda Bay beer tasting night. $30. info@kingomalleys.com.au .
friday april 08 Arts Café Rebetika
CSIRO Discovery After Dark: Chemistry
It’s the Year of Chemistry! A free all ages event. Head to the website for details. CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
saturday april 09
THE STREET THEATRE
Dance
Arts
Nathan Frost
Café Rebetika
KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE
Cookie Monster
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
Academy Fridays
A Fair With Art
ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB
GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
THE CLUBHOUSE
THE STREET THEATRE
Arts Café Rebetika
Smooth Groovy House
CCAS Zine Fair
TULIP LOUNGE
C BLOCK THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE
THE STREET THEATRE
comedy Jay Sullivan
Comedy Club at Civic Pub. Tix: comedyact.com.au . CIVIC PUB
Dance
Feat. Super Mariusz and Spilks. 10pm – 4am.
Party By Jake
Canberra’s most loved monthly mayhem shindig extravaganza is back for some Easter fun.
Zines, treasures, inspiration. Free! 10am-4pm.
Dance D’Opus
New York Public Library THE MERRY MUSE
Passionate melodies, wild harmonies, richly textured arrangements. SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB WODEN
Richard Burns Duo
Live
Special K
Mind Over Matter Doors at 7.30pm.
ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
52
CASINO CANBERRA
The Bell Parade
Alt-country, indie balladry, subtle psychedelia. With Julia & The Deep Sea Sirens 8pm, $7. THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
Killing the Sound
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
sunday april 10 Arts Café Rebetika
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au . THE STREET THEATRE
Good Charlotte
MONKEY BAR
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
Natalie Magee Trio
R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm. MONKEY BAR NORTH BAR
Dos Locos
SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB WODEN
Live
Creole Choir of Cuba
THE PHOENIX PUB
Recreating one of the most legendary concerts in rock history. cscc.com.au .
Live
4Sound Sinful Thursdays
Bang Bang Boss Kelly, Pete Akhurst. Free.
The Last Waltz Revival
Urban Playground
Santorini Saturdays
Rubycon
THE DECK, REGATTA POINT
KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE
With Fred Pilcher. 7.30pm.
Feat. Team Wing, B-tham and more. $5 on the door after 10.30pm starts at 9.30pm. Monkey Bar
Tabura, V-Tribe, Anneliese Meywess, Naomi Tia, Davu, Tuff Tumas, Jagarizzer. 5pm, $69.40.
TRANSIT BAR
Ashley Feraude
KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE
WODEN YOUTH CENTRE
Presented by National Youth Week and Gorman House Arts Centre.
Feat. Drop the Lime and Peking Duck. 9pm ‘til late.
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
YOUTH[onthescene]FEST!
A night of nothing but Nirvana. $15, 8pm.
Feat B-tham. 9pm.
Vinyl Only
Canberra’s finest purveyors of wax, spinning the black circle. All vinyl, all classics, aw yeah!
With special guests Short Stack. Tickets on sale now through Ticketek. AIS ARENA
Eat Skull (USA)
With Slug Guts (Bris). Free. THE PHOENIX PUB
Funky Brothers
Funky blues and reggae from 1-3pm. THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN
TRANSIT BAR
Sunday Sessions On The Deck
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
Live
CANBERRA IRISH CLUB
Friday Night Acoustic Series
The Amenta
With Ruins and Ouroboros. $15 at the door.
A versatile rhythm section that plays jazz standards, originals and well known covers 6pm.
Crash the Curb
Sunday Best
THE PHOENIX PUB
A BITE TO EAT CAFE
CASINO CANBERRA
Pro Blues and Roots Acoustic Jam featuring Chris Harland Blues Band. 8pm, free. HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB
Illy
with M-Phazes. 8pm, $15. 7.30pm. ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
ANU BAR AND REFECTORY
With Gooch Palms and Atom Bombs.
2pm, free.
The Rhythm Project
THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
Cognac Lounge. 5-7pm, free.
GIG GUIDE April 11 - April 17 monday april 11 Arts
wednesday april 13 Arts
Café Rebetika
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik
live
friday april 15
Michael Elisha Bones
Arts The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik
Performing songs born from a more melancholy muse, with singer/ songwriter Shobana Narayanan. 8pm. THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
THE STREET THEATRE
Deep Sea Explorer. A multi awardwinning one-man micro-epic puppet show. Tix through the venue.
Deep Sea Explorer. A multi awardwinning one-man micro-epic puppet show. Tix through the venue.
Live
Café Rebetika
Café Rebetika
Landspeed Records Vinyl Sale
THE STREET THEATRE
THE STREET THEATRE
LANDSPEED RECORDS
The Bootleg Sessions 8pm, free.
THE PHOENIX PUB
Something Different Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds
Come nurse the wounds of a working weekend with Canberra’s finest start-oda-week shindig. TRANSIT BAR
Buddhist Meditation Classes Drop-in any week. Class fee $14. For details call 9387 7717 or www. meditateincanberra.org . WESLEY CHURCH
tuesday april 12 Arts Café Rebetika
THE STREET THEATRE
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
BMA Presents Gigmund Freud
Mystery Opening Act, nozl, Fun Machine and The Last Prom playing their second ever gig! THE PHOENIX PUB
Eric Bibb
The troubadour live in duo mode with Staffan Astner. Tix through Ticketek. TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE
Something Different Fame Trivia
Recruit your brainiest friends and come along to test your knowledge Wednesday nights at Transit TRANSIT BAR
thursday april 14
THE STREET THEATRE
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik Deep Sea Explorer. A multi awardwinning one-man micro-epic puppet show. Tix through the venue. THE STREET THEATRE
Live Eric Bibb
The troubadour live in duo mode with Staffan Astner. Tix through Ticketek. TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE
Something Different Trivia Night
THE PHOENIX PUB
Over 2000 used LPs! Craaazy! Cash paid for old records. All genres. 10am.
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
A Commercial Farce
Live
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au .
Something Different
THE STREET THEATRE
Arts The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik
Deep Sea Explorer. A multi awardwinning one-man micro-epic puppet show. Tix through the venue. THE STREET THEATRE
Café Rebetika
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au . THE STREET THEATRE
A Commercial Farce
An hilarious slapstick comedy! Tix through the venue. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
something different
Comedy
Buddhist Meditation Classes
As seen on Whose Line Is It Anyway? Tix through canberraticketing.com.au .
WESLEY CHURCH
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Live Oscar
KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC
Sam Buckingham
An intimate night of acoustic storytelling and song. 8pm. THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY
saturday april 16 Arts The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik
Deep Sea Explorer. A multi awardwinning one-man micro-epic puppet show. Tix through the venue. THE STREET THEATRE
Café Rebetika
An epic story of love, music and defiance. thestreet.net.au . THE STREET THEATRE
A Commercial Farce
An hilarious slapstick comedy! Tix through the venue. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Dance
Adalita
Urban Playground
TRANSIT BAR
Drop-in any week. Class fee $14. For details call 9387 7717 or www. meditateincanberra.org .
Greg Proops Live
Live Self titled album launch. Tix through Moshtix.
sunday april 17
An hilarious slapstick comedy! Tix through the venue.
R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm. MONKEY BAR
OUT APR 13
QUIET RIOT GOTYE BIRDS OF TOKYO ADALITA ...and more!
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FIRST CONTACT
SIDE A: BMA band profile
LAVERS Where did your band name come from? Dom: A few names were tossed around by Seb and me before we ended up going with our last name. Obviously, the others are in the process of getting their names changed. Group members: Dominic Lavers (vocals, guitar), Sebastian Lavers (lead guitar, piano), Den Murray (drums) and Evan Langham (bass). Describe your sound: We play all sorts of styles but like to keep things melodic and memorable. We’ve been compared with The Who, Big Star and Crowded House. Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Seb: Hearing Billy Joel at age 11 inspired me to start learning the piano, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. My guitar influences are Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr and The Smashing Pumpkins. What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing? Seb: At a recent gig, an old man wrote a very detailed review of the show, complete with his phone number. The barman passed on pages and pages of this guy’s scrawled, tatty notes after the show – we’re not sure whether to call ‘Jim’ or the police. What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Dom: Playing a gig at the Miss World Australia final in front of about 500 people, thanks to our sister Sophie being Miss World Australia 2009. It might not have been Wembley Stadium or The Super Bowl, but it felt huge at the time. What are your plans for the future? Dom: The plan is to record an EP at Den’s home studio in Kiama, make a classic debut album, tour and have big crowds singing the songs. What makes you laugh? Den: My two puppies Grimace and Grover always make me laugh no matter what mood I’m in. What pisses you off? Den: Some of the rubbish that can be found on the radio. What’s your opinion of the local scene? Dom: It’s awesome once you get proactive and have some gigging experience. It took me ages to realise that you don’t meet anyone by playing guitar alone in your room. What are your upcoming gigs? The Phoenix, (Monday April 4, 8pm). Relay For Life Festival, Kiama (Saturday April 30). Contact info: domlavers@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/ thelaversbrothers
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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 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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