BMA Magazine 398 July 18 2012

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Breaking Bad returns; sales of pork pie hats triple among married white men aged 45-55 #398J U LY 1 8 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko

T: 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com

Advertising Manager Elisa Sko T: 6257 4360 E: sales@bmamag.com

Editor Ashley Thomson

T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com

Accounts Manager Yu Xie

T: 02 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com

Super Sub-Editor Greta Kite-Gilmour Graphic Design Marley Film Editor Melissa Wellham NEXT ISSUE 399 OUT AUGUST 01 EDITORIAL DEADLINE JULY 23 ADVERTISING DEADLINE JULY 26 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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This year Foreshore has followed their line-up announcement with a supplementary announcement – they’re moving ‘back to the Foreshore’. At first glance this would lead you to believe the notorious ‘Bowl’ is back in action, especially due to the fact they’ve invoked the word ‘homecoming’, but in actual fact the foreshore they’re referring to is on the other side of the lake. Foreshore 2012 will be held in Commonwealth Park at Stage 88 and Regatta Point.Promising to leave the lakeside walkway unimpeded in their new location, Foreshore are backing up headliners with underground favourites Major Lazer, Bassnectar and Flume, who was recently announced as the support for The xx’s upcoming two-show tour. The festival is continuing its Carbon Offset program, whereby punters buying ‘Carbon Friendly’ tickets can rest easy as the overheads are passed on to a suitably impenetrable corporation called Climate Friendly, who in turn declare the festival carbon neutral. Hurrah. Tickets go on sale Thursday July 19.

ACT LIGHT RAIL SOLUTION GATHERS MOMENTUM ACT Light Rail, the peak light rail lobby group in the Australian Capital Territory, have been attempting to make inroads into the local consciousness ahead of the next local election. Touting members from Community Councils, all political parties, environmental groups and members of the general public, ACT Light Rail hoist a single-issue banner and hoist it high. Given that the idea of light rail has been in the ACT Government’s political discourse for over two decades, it is possible that this convergence of efforts may be the proverbial straw.

Most recently, an ad by another local environmental group, Canberra Loves 40%, was aired during this Sunday’s Canberra Raiders NRL match. As the spokesperson for Canberra

ANIMAL LIBERATION ACT CALL FOR OUTRIGHT BATTERY CAGE BAN In a recent bit of press coverage, the ACT Government made the most of a deal with Pace Farms to end battery cage egg production at Parkwood Egg Farm, Macgregor. Following two decades of work by animal rights activists and numerous confronting images and videos, the Government and the Greens have lauded the agreement as an end to a barbaric practice. Despite welcoming the agreement, Animal Liberation ACT have been quick to point out that no legislative ban on battery cages has been enacted, nor has any basic standard of treatment been set by which Pace Farms must abide as they transition to barn housing. As President, Lara Drew, commented, “Welfare conditions in barn housing are only slightly less appalling than in batteries…

[W]e are disappointed that the ACT Government has agreed to Parkwood converting to another intensive system.” Drew underscored the ongoing nature of the problem. “It is not enough to do deals with egg producers.”

Whether public sentiment subsides or escalates remains to be seen.

THE SMITH STREET BAND ANNOUNCE TOUR Poison City Records is delighted (like, you can see it sticking out to the left) to reveal that their burgeoning buzz band will release their second album on Friday August 24. The Melbourne band’s debut album, No One Gets Lost Anymore, was greeted with accolades, with triple j’s Stu Harvey noting, ‘The Smith Street band need to be heard’. Already this year the band shared the stage with Frank Turner and Fucked Up. They’ll be in Canberra Sunday September 9 at The Phoenix.

RAVE MAGAZINE GOES UNDER On Tuesday June 26 it was announced that Brisbane’s street press Rave Magazine was being discontinued after 21 years and over 1000 issues.

Coming up on our 400th, it gave us food for thought, as has the ‘death of the written word’ speculation in its wake.

Said publisher Colin Rankin, “It’s like a lot of print media problems these days, as evidenced by the Fairfax and News [Ltd] announcements.”

When taken as part of a whole it can seem inevitable. What goes unuttered is that Scene and TNT Magazine continue to publish free in Brisbane, not to mention Street Press Australia’s Time Off. Then there’s the financial backlash suffered in the wake of the floods, which reportedly sucked governmental funding away from the arts. It’s a shame to see a good street press go.

Our condolences go out to our smelly, underpaid compatriots.

And just to be safe, we’re announcing opposition to a wave pool in Canberra.

This public transport system inspired by the 1993 Sylvester Stallone film Demolition Man.

FORESHORE ANNOUNCES CHANGE OF VENUE

Loves 40% noted, “It’s great that we get to kick off our video at the Titan’s match, because at their home turf at the Gold Coast a new light rail system is being built right now.” The video shows fans going to the stadium via light rail rather than buses.

It remains to be seen how many more local institutions support the initiative but (for all the shit-arse nothing it’s worth) it has support here.

FROM THE BOSSMAN Today I would just like you to kind of invite me into your palatial homes to, y’know discuss, if one may be permitted, the sort of unsung art of apologetic language.

Now that was a horrible printed sentence (‘Not the first one you’ve done!’ this column space may cry, the ungrateful white wretch). It is riddled with apologetic language, and should receive a thorough editing to strip out the uncertainty, leaving nothing but bold, punchy, forceful prose.

Today I would like you to invite me into your palatial homes to discuss, if one may be permitted, the unsung art of apologetic language. There, much better (‘if one may be permitted’ stays, wincing though it may be because, well... I’m a fruity twat).

With the spoken word we drop in such time-wasting apologetic platitudes all the time, without realising it. Upon transcribing an interview with Noel Fielding for this issue’s cover - check it out...

I nail it, and Noel does pretty well too - it struck me how regularly we employ apologetic language in our speech.

Fielding is a comic at the top of his game, brimming with confidence, enthusiasm and charm, and is nothing if not eloquent, unlike the last part of this sentence. But away from the scripted performance arena, he also uses apologetic language in abundance. ‘Just’, ‘a bit’, ‘sort of’, ‘y’know’, ‘probably’ and ‘kind of’ peppered our hugely enjoyable 25-minute chat as often as his warm trademark laughter. Bizarre for a man of his stature and wealth, no? But it all sounds completely normal in conversation; it’s only after you write the dialogue out word for word that you realise exactly how much of a dribbling idiot we can all, just, sort of, y’know, sound like (‘You especially, Sko!’ Quiet, Column, people are watching).

YOU PISSED ME OFF! Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance.

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] Dear Pissed-off person, I have no ill feelings toward you even after your child-like tantrum. I’m sorry for your confusion and unfulfilled dreams seeing live music in Garema Place. I’m not sure what gave you the impression that we were a live music place. Just because your understanding of the word ‘venue’ equates to ‘live music’, does not mean that everyone else sees it the same way, and is incredibly arrogant of you. Step one before you rant – perhaps look up what the word means. In no dictionary does the word ‘venue’ specifically mean ‘live music’.

It is in fact defined as a place where people come together to meet (Websters Dictionary). That said, have you looked inside Playground? Do you really think it could possibly fit a band in there even if we wanted it to? Did you think that we magically tripled the size of the old travel agency that was in there. Ah, I see, you didn’t remember that it used to be a travel agency – but you know everything else about Garema Place and what will make it “cool”, don’t you? Here’s a tip. Think about why Canberra has no real live music venues. The answer is simple. There is not enough of a following to support it and every single live music venue that has opened has failed. Am I wrong? Put your money where your mouth is and open one. Hmmm, bet you’ve gone very quiet now, haven’t you? To quote your own words, “please, for Canberra, prove me wrong”.

So why indulge in such a dance of deferential dialogue? At the basic level, a good old spray of ‘Y’know, well, it’s kind of like...’ in our speech buys us some useful seconds for our boozeencrusted brains to frantically thumb through the cranial archives and find that thought-brick of a word to wedge into the construction of a towering idea. That old chestnut.

A lot of the time, though, we know exactly what we want to say, but we’re worried we come across as too forceful. And so, rather charmingly, we use apologetic language out of meek politeness, to find a tender way of putting forth statements. Statements are abrupt, snarling creatures, after all, and a polite platitude is like a controlling furry collar. Commanding signs shout DON’T RUN! not DON’T SORT OF RUN! (my wife has a sort-of run, having said that; this cute combination of Woody from Toy Story and a staggering teapot, but that’s beside the point*).

Declaring “I wanted to do something brilliant,” when asked on the motivation for your latest work, looks perfectly fine on paper.

Out loud, it’s a different story. So the apologetic language centre of the brain kicks in and makes it comes out as, “I just wanted to, y’know, do something a bit brilliant.” When we have to talk about something ticklish to someone, we’ll often say ‘Can I have a bit of a word with you?’ rather than flat out ‘You, dickhead, words, NOW!’ Unless you’re my wife.** So there you have it. We’re all lovely tender souls afraid of hurting each other’s feelings and we pollute our speech with all manner of humdrum word softeners to communicate. And if you don’t agree well, then, you can kind of, y’know... go and fuck right off. A bit. Not really.

SORT OF ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com *I love my wife. **I really do.

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WHO: The Bon Scotts WHAT: Celt-Folk For Kamikaze Drinkers WHEN: Fri Jul 20 WHERE: The White Eagle Polish Club

triple j Unearthed has lauded the The Bon Scotts for defiantly melding traditional folk with an endearing, satirical voice. Laced with irony and hype, their unconventional hooks and distinct sound have put them at the forefront of the new folk revival. The band’s response: “[It] could be BETTER described as a pre-emptive ‘Irish wake’ for kamikaze binge drinkers.” They should be right at home so come along and make them welcome! The Bon Scotts will be supported by one of Canberra’s most energetic songwriters, The Burley Griffin. If you like your music with energy and a twist, this is your night. Doors 8pm. $15 full/$12 concession/$10 CMC members.

WHO: Smitty & B. Goode WHAT: Rock Minimalists WHEN: Sat Jul 21 WHERE: The Phoenix Bar

Smitty & B. Goode are a rock ‘n’ roll two-piece from Sydney. The band formed at the arse-end of 2008 when B. Goode met Smitty while they were both working at an indie record label. After finding out they possessed a rock ‘n’ roll chemistry most bands only dream of, the pair knuckled down with producer Lachlan Mitchell (The Jezebels, Frenzal Rhomb) and recorded their self-titled debut before they’d even played a gig. In March 2012, Smitty & B. Goode released a new EP, We’ll Take It From Here, self-recorded in a church. Their extreme minimalism has won them fans across all music tastes (except Grigorian chant). With special guest Tom Woodward. 9:30pm. Free.

WHO: Cam Nacson WHAT: Rising Songwriter WHEN: Fri Jul 20/Sat Jul 21 WHERE: Tongue & Groove/ Mooseheads Pub

Music has always been second nature to Sydney singer-songwriter Cam Nacson, but with his single Crazy Kids hitting the airwaves he’s finally being tested. While Cam was the first in his family to pick up an instrument, he was raised on a staple diet of The Beatles and music greats courtesy of his DJ-turned-radio-broadcaster father.

His early appetite for pop soon matured into a taste for classic rock, but it was mentor-turned-mate Pete Murray and US star Ron Pope who opened Cam’s eyes to his own creativity. Signed to Wonderlick Entertainment, 2012 is shaping up as Cam Nacson’s biggest year yet.

6pm-9pm both nights. Free.

WHO: Anna Smyrk and the Appetites WHAT: Pianissimo Pop WHEN: Sun Jul 22 WHERE: The Front Gallery and Café

Anna Smyrk and the Appetites play a unique blend of dramatic folkpop. Their latest EP, entitled The Belly of Winter, was recorded last year with ARIA-award winning producer Craig Pilkington (Gurrumul, Mia Dyson). They are touring for the second time this year and hoping for smoother sailing. “We learnt how to play Extreme Milk-Crate stacking, the card game 500 and our all-time favourite, Erecting a Tent in Torrential Rain. The next recording will strictly deal with summery themes.” They straddle genres, moving from smooth to rowdy, theatrical to thoughtful, eccentric to accessible.

Witness their easy charm in action. With guest James Fahy. 8pm. $5.

WHO: Jay Hoad WHAT: MultiInstrumentalist WHEN: Wed Jul 25/Thu Jul 26 WHERE: The Front/The Phoenix Bar

Fijian-born didgeridoo/string instrument virtuoso Jay Hoad has spent the last six years touring the globe, following the sun and his music throughout the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, Fiji, Canada and North America, keeping up a relentless touring schedule whilst learning every style he can. The result is a high-energy show that sees Jay in a cockpit of instruments: didgeridoo, Weissenborn lap steel, dulcimer, dulsitar, cigar box guitar, wine box bass, harmonica, ocarina, djembe, loops and more. Jay is releasing his second album and may try to plant peace and love in your face with his eyes. At The Front, 7:30pm, $10, and next day at The Phoenix, 8:30pm, free.

WHO: 400KW, The Skronks, Hang Dai AD WHAT: Detroit Rock Metal WHEN: Sat Jul 28 WHERE: The Basement

Desert-fried stoner-rock with a side of Detroit tang will be dished up when two of Sydney’s hardest-hitting stoner bands, 400KW and Hang Dai AD, come to Canberra with the support of locals The Skronks. 400KW are hard-edged, nitro-charged classic Australian dirty rock ‘n ‘roll, with drums hitting like a 42-wheeler and a lowend rumble like a city-levelling earthquake. Hang Dai AD, also no strangers to the riff, have started to make their mark in Sydney’s more energetic venues, and Canberra’s The Skronks bring twisted, melodic twin-guitar rock with a nod to Detroit rock, psychbeat and garage. This night will send winter whimpering back to its Mum! She will sooth it; it’s dad will accuse it of not being a man. 9pm. $10.

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It’s like every dance move you just shouldn’t do.

We start and the crowd follows

particular as they wanted the song to fit a certain mould. A couple of our ideas didn’t get over the line but we ended up with R. Kelly’s Remix to Ignition. It had some sexually devious lyrics, quite unlike my usual material, and I snuck in a few Kanye West lyrics too.”

CARE TO DANCE UGLY? RORY McCARTNEY If you visited the Tiki Terrace at last year’s Foreshore, you may have been lucky enough to witness the hippy folk-pop act that is JINJA SAFARI. Founding member, singer and guitarist Marcus Azon had had a busy Friday with PR work and an early start at Like A Version.

He told me, “We had to choose a song in advance and triple j was

The band has been admirably independent in the past, doing their own videos, production and avoiding labels until the recent move to Cooperative Music Australia. Who is the marketing genius behind this approach? “Our managers Blake and Matt kept us from being burnt by certain aspects of the music industry and kept overheads low. Blake handles design and online stuff.”

The band’s world music influences were gained through travel.

Marcus investigated his family’s roots in Uganda and the band takes its name from his grandmother’s home town of Jinja. Asked about the biggest impression of his trip, Marcus recalled, “The value given to human life is lower there, but the people are happier. There is no high suicide rate like we have here. People have little but are generous with what they’ve got.

My grandmother actually runs a café with a slightly Aussie flavour and she makes a great burger.” So how did their recent overseas tour go? “We did two slots at the Great Escape festival in the UK. The first went really well but the second was terrible. It was at about 1am, we had an instrument problem, our timing was out and we even did the dreaded stop-and-restart for a song. Hopefully some people were too drunk to notice.

In LA and New York we gigged to build a fan base and get to be a known outfit. We did it with minimal support and it kept the band really honest.”

I noted that prominent songs Peter Pan, Mermaids and Sunken House share fairy tale themes. “Yeah, it was like that at the start of our writing. We had a softer approach and kept themes to stories and writing about family members. Now we’re becoming more raw, more like our live presence.”

So what makes Jinja Safari gigs so famous? “We’re into pure escapism visually and musically.

Then there’s the Ugly Dancing, which is like every dance move you just shouldn’t do. You just let your limbs go free and you can do it anywhere. We start and the crowd follows.”

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Jinja Safari join Opossum and White Arrows on The Blind Date Tour at ANU Bar on Wednesday August 15, 8pm. Tickets are $40.90 + bf through Ticketek.

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Monday July 23 for your chance to win a lunchtime concert for your school with Bliss n Eso and record a song in the triple j studios. More information on how to enter/terms and conditions can be found at www.triplejunearthed.com/unearthedhigh.

ALL AGES Hey folks! I’m feeling the whole Christmas in July vibe up in my crib.

Partly ‘coz it’s really cold, but mainly because I needed an excuse to slip some terribly lame Christmas jokes in here a good deal earlier than called for, like this one: What do elves learn in school? The Elfabet! Cue awkward silence and tumbleweed.

Yes. Yes they do. But if you, like myself, think that elves are freakishly small demons sent from the underworld to torment you in your dreams, then maybe you should write a song about it.

Listen up musically talented young folk, because this is your final call from me to enter the triple j Unearthed High competition. Just upload an original song (about elves, of course) to their website by

If you and your family happen to get together to celebrate Christmas in July, why not teach your Nan some moshpit etiquette when Harm’s Way (US) and Phantoms play at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Tuesday July 31? Those who have witnessed Harm’s Way perform have described it as a ‘rewarding journey through the hardest of sonic assaults’. There’s no doubt Nan will thank you for that. Tickets are $19.40 + bf and can be purchased online at Oztix.

Live@BAC is an excellent opportunity for chilled out vibes and panoramic views of Lake Ginninderra, and a great way to spend the second Friday of every month.

So on Friday August 10 make sure you come to the Belconnen Arts Centre, pay $5 entry at the door and enjoy live local music talent from 5:30-7:30pm. Details on performers are put up each month on their website www. belconnenartscentre.com.au.

If you’ve ever seen Whip It and decided that roller derby is awesome, then you’re already winning at life. I think you would definitely enjoy watching the Red Bellied Black Hearts vs. Black ‘n’ Blue Belles on Saturday August 11. Doors will open at the Southern Cross Stadium in Tuggeranong at 5pm for a 6pm start. Tickets are $11.75 + bf through Oztix.

On a more hardcore note, Antagonist A.D. (NZ), Lionheart (US) and Shinto Katana are playing at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Wednesday August 15. These bands have toured previously with the likes of Parkway Drive, Have Heart and Earth Crisis. Tickets can be purchased online through Moshtix or on 1300 438 849.

And finally, just letting you know nice and early that the chilledout acoustic wonder Xavier Rudd will be playing at Canberra Theatre on Sunday September 9. General admission is $61.50 + bf and can be booked by calling (02) 6275 2700 or online at www. canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

So there you have it, kids. That’s all the all age action you need this Christmas in July.

Just promise me that you’ll take it easy on the eggnog. Have a merry time folks.

ANDIE EGAN allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

Kicking off this week is a quick, lusty huzzah in Local ‘n’ Live’s direction after their Pozible campaign launch on Friday July 13 at the White Eagle Polish Club. Though the night descended into a violent, orgiastic Run DMC-fuelled dance-off - bulging hippies and translucent-skinned ghouls jabbing chunks of flesh from one another’s thighs with their grotesquely over-long bones - it seemed a financial if not psychological success.

This coming Friday may find it hard to measure up, but Saturday July 21 may suffice. Frenzal Rhomb have added locals I Exist and Super Best Friends to their line-up at The Basement. If there are tickets left (and I promise nothing – save herpes) you can hunt them down through Ticketek. Meanwhile, The Underground Project will finally have revealed its currently secret location and will be kicking off at 9pm. Originally scheduled for Saturday July 7, the event was postponed a week as promoters accommodated a swelling roster of DJs and added another stage. Now promising four stages, 40 DJs and nine hours of entirely local electronic music, expect to find many a small plastic baggie on the ground at whichever location it ends up sequestering. And maybe a few people. It goes aboveground at 9pm.

Tuesday July 24 sees the launch of a local branch of a global initiative known as No Lights No Lycra. In their own words, ‘There is no light, no lycra, no teacher, no technique, just great tunes and free movement in the dark.’ For $5 you are invited to share a space in which people – in relative darkness – are able to dance to their heart’s content in whatever clothes they wish. It sounds cathartically ingenious – and demented. Head along to Corroborree Park Hall at 7:30pm this Tuesday and every one henceforth to find out if you have something only a special blend of track pants and darkness could help you oust.

Ex/pseudo-locals Cat Cat will be returning to Canberra on Thursday July 26 for a show at Transit Bar. Delve into their feature on page 21 for more information, but the Gig For Idiots blurb reads something like this: they used to be soft and now they’re a bit more edgy. Either way it’s good music. It’s $5 from 8pm.

Making rounds on local community and internet radio, Yoko Oh No have themselves a show at The Phoenix Bar on Saturday July 28 with Excitebike. If you haven’t heard of these bands it’s likely because you’ve been preoccupied with moulding recently deceased people’s flesh into the shape of children’s cartoon characters. If that isn’t a prerequisite for enjoying this show I don’t know what is. It kicks off 9:30pm.

Finally, the following week, Friday August 3, a new Mexican joint called Guzman y Gomez is opening near Supabarn on Bunda Street in the city. While Canberra Centre is worse than the Westboro Baptist Church and endorsing a food joint is like giving a fat guy a condoling hug before he has elective surgery rather than eat salad and walk, they are giving away free burritos from 11am-8pm and I feel that reigns supreme.

ASHLEY THOMSON - editorial@bmamag.com

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FLIGHT OF FRIGHT baz ruddick After a two-year break following the massive success of her debut album, quirky guitar songstress Pip Brown aka LADYHAWKE is back with her much-anticipated second album, Anxiety.

I caught up with Pip for a brief chat prior to her setting off to play a series of shows in Indonesia before returning to London. After a brief chat about office chair-spinning-induced vomiting, we got down to business and talked about the pressure of the music industry, her musical genius partner in crime, producer and collaborator Pascal Gabriel, and the pursuit of that unique sound.

I’m quite an anxious person. I was kind of poking fun at myself

Following the huge success of her first album in 2008 and a solid two years of touring, Pip found herself utterly exhausted and unable to move on and make her second record.

“I was on the road for two years. The album just kept going for some reason. I enjoyed every moment of it so when I finally stopped I was just so exhausted and completely burned out. I couldn’t even pick up my guitar, I was too tired. If I had been able to have taken more breaks on the tour then I probably would have been able to have coped with the record much easier.”

After a well-deserved break, Ladyhawke entered into the studio once again to produce her second album, perfectly entitled Anxiety. “I’m quite an anxious person. I was kind of poking fun at myself. I knew my friends would laugh. I was very stressed out about the record. I’d built it up so much in my head as I was so worried.”

Despite being fuelled by creative pressure, Ladyhawke’s second album marks a shift to rockier and edgier territory.

“I desperately wanted to play something different. My brain was eager to do something else. I just always wanted to do the next record like this. Still pop – because I love pop – but I wanted to do something a bit darker and a bit rockier and something fun to rock out to on stage.

I knew it would be different from anything else that was around but it didn’t bother me. I’m really proud of it and I’m happy with it.”

Pip’s dislike of contemporary recording studios and engineers took her to the south of France to work with long-time collaborator Pascal Gabriel in his medieval tower home. “I hate big studios. I find them really intimidating. Engineers always intimidate me as well. That’s why I like working with Pascal. He’s awesome. The basic thing about Pascal is that he gets me and he knows what my music taste is. He gets what I mean when I’m trying to describe something I don’t know the technical term for. Something that would take me hours to do, he can do in like thirty seconds on the computer.”

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Anxiety is available now through Modular. Make sure you don’t miss the Lady herself when she swoops into ANU Bar on Friday July 20, 8pm. Tickets are $46.05 + bf through Ticketek.

TWICE AS COOL AS A CAT Pete huet “The guy from Tiger Choir bought them for us and insisted we eat them before our set,” says CAT CAT singer/guitarist Warwick Smith.

“We played one of the fastest sets of our lives.” And yes, he’s talking about stimulants. Fellow singer/guitarist Conor Hutchison was under the weather at the time, and consequently under the effects of cold and flu tablets when the chocolate-coated coffee beans were thrust upon him. “I’ve never seen someone in a band receive an audience so well,” says Smith. “It’s usually the other way round.”

While the band’s music can certainly be propulsive at times, the former Canberrans are not known for their breakneck speed. In fact, their debut album Uralba is a collection of textured, mood-setting pieces, more suited to red wine and firesides than fistfuls of coffee beans.

The guy insisted we eat them before our set…

We played one of the fastest sets of our lives

Cat Cat is now set to return to Canberra for the first time since touring the album, partly to road test material ahead of returning to the studio. According to Smith, their sound is moving toward something more suited to caffeine binges. “After that Hobart show we really changed,” he jokes. “Uralba was a bit sparse while [the new music] is more groove-based. More drive but still with pop guitar hooks.” Adding to that drive is the addition of a bass-playing fourth member, Sam Crockett of Wizard Oz. Smith learned of this from Crockett himself, who’d just been asked to join by a boozey Hutchison. “Sam came into the room and said, ‘So I’m playing bass’. I said, ‘Sure’,” Smith explains, adding that this was a welcome development.

Hutchison says meeting the likes of Wizard Oz, The Ocean Party, Pop Singles and Grand Prismatic has been a highlight of Cat Cat’s time in Melbourne. “We’ve got a bunch of bands that we’re friends with now. It’s kind of like Canberra,” he says. “There’s too much going on everywhere else,” Smith adds. “You get drawn into a group of people and hang out with them. There aren’t many people from Melbourne who are in bands. They all come from somewhere else.” So what do they miss about Canberra? Smith and Hutchison both say the people, the landscape, the birds and the sunsets. “The other day at work we saw a sunset. Just a regular sunset,” says Hutchison. “And someone looked outside and said, ‘Wow, that’s the most amazing sunset ever’. It wasn’t even that good. It was just a bit of yellow.”

And as Cat Cat roll into Canberra under a crimson sky, they’ll be bringing the confidence of a seasoned Melbourne outfit. “One of the good things is that bands down here tour frequently so it becomes normal,” says Hutchison. “When we’d leave Canberra to tour it would be a big deal so you’d kind of get anxious. Down here, you just do it.”

Come play with Cat Cat at Transit Bar, Thursday July 26, 8pm, for the first stop of their Winter tour. Tickets are a paltry $5 on the door with supports Danger Beach and Mornings.

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I’m not getting any tamer, probably sound wilder now than I ever did

I just don’t think you can judge something in three minutes. If Dylan or Hendrix had to do that they wouldn’t have made it.” And Renée Geyer is speaking from the position of experience. By all measures – critical success, chart hits, loyal audience and an impeccable studio musician resume – the singer, celebrating her 40th anniversary in the industry, has ‘made it’.

A VARIETY OF SURVIVOR juSTIN HOOK A few years back, RENÉE GEYER was asked to be a judge on a reality TV singing show. She can’t remember which one it was, giving you a pretty good idea of her response. “I consider them to be like that old Bert Newton show [New Faces]. It was nice of them to ask but I politely and humbly thanked them then turned it down.

Which, in an industry seemingly forever on its knees waiting for the bullet, counts for plenty. “They [Australian Idol, The X Factor, The Voice et al.] are just replacing what the tonight shows were doing. Which is sad because when you sang on those shows you learnt to become professional... That was a golden time for music people because we could perform our music on TV and we were professional. It’s not the same thing. Being professional works against you if you’re entering one of those shows. So what do you do? There’s not that much else around.” Fortunately for Geyer there’s plenty more still around. She’s kept an active touring calendar for decades, these days preferring smaller infrequent gigs. In fact she’s the classic case study of doing things against the grain, riding out the testosteronecharged pub rock era with reserved nonchalance.

“I’m very happy that the idea where you can sit, have dinner and watch a show has become more acceptable. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s it would have been considered ‘cabaret’. But I was probably one of the first people to start doing those gigs. It means people can sit and enjoy the music… with a drink.” The wine bar setting and vibe has yet to quell Geyer. Quite the opposite. “It’s just another way of enjoying live music. As I get older I’m not getting any tamer, probably sound wilder now than I ever did!”

On the recording front she has lent her vocals to releases by Neil Diamond, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker and Toni Childs, as well as hitting her mark early with a cover of James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s World in the mid ‘70s. The 2003 album Tenderland was a critical and commercial hit but it’s proving harder to get records on shelves. “It’s quite bleak at the moment. Money is tight. Not everyone has a record deal or a home studio or the budget to get one. It’s getting harder and harder. It’s inevitable but unfortunate.”

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Renée Geyer is coming to The Abbey on Sunday July 22, 6:30pm.

Tickets are $55-$125 through www. theabbey.com.au or by calling (02) 6230 2905.

Every place has a different musical current; a different feeling and light

GEOGRAPHY ALWAYS HAS A SOUND JULIA WINTERFLOOD HEATH CULLEN grew up in Candelo, a village resting alongside a creek about 20km from Bega. The kind of place you pass through and wonder who lives there; old timber houses with big verandas, dusty streets and rambling paddocks, a horizon obscured only by trees. All these years later, and despite his brewing success in Australia’s alt-country scene, Heath still calls it home. “I’ve been lucky enough to have been working in music since I left high school and that involves a lot of travelling,” he says, sitting down by the fire. “When you’re on tour you don’t have a lot of space to yourself so it’s great to be able to come back here where I don’t have any neighbours.”

Heath is a lucky man.

He’s managed to assemble his ‘dream’ musicians. Bassist Larry Taylor is a long-time member of Tom Waits’ band and has worked with John Lee Hooker. Guitarist Marc Ribot also played alongside Waits, as well as Elvis Costello and Robert Plant, while drummer Jim Keltner has worked with some of the biggest names in music; three quarters of The Beatles, The Stones and Dylan, to name a few. “Larry, Marc and Jim are basically my favourite players in the world of their particular instrument. I can’t wait to get into the studio and get to work.”

But what of the sounds of the City of Angels in comparison to quiet Candelo? “Every place has a different musical current, a different feeling and colour and light. Different places certainly do affect the way things sound. I’m sure that will come through somehow.”

Catch Heath Cullen on the eve of his departure at Smiths Alternative Bookshop on Friday August 3, 8pm. Tickets are $20 and can be bought from www.paperbacksessions.com.au.

Heath Cullen and The 45’s debut A Storm Was Coming But I Didn’t Feel Nothing (2010) unsurprisingly echoes its recording environment. Tender guitars and accordion form melodies that garland Heath’s lingering baritone while he whispers intimate, imagery-rich laments. The songs are sparse and disquieting, stirring up small-town yearning and regret, and sit on the same shelf as Gareth Liddiard’s, Jack Ladder’s and Glenn Richards’ in their brutally aching beauty. Australian balladeers have a history of being influenced by isolation and Heath Cullen is no different. It came as a surprise then to learn he’ll be recording his next album in LA. “I’m certainly not going to LA for some kind of LA sound; that’s definitely not what I want.

Not that I could pin down any particular LA sound. It’s a great city, it’s a huge city. I think the beautiful thing about it is that so many different people go there from so many different walks of life all with some kind of vision…

The scope of imagination there is quite broad. But the reason I’m going to Los Angeles is for the musicians I’m working with.”

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The street theatre capital jazz project

25

SCENIC BOREDOM

FREE BURRITOS!

MORGAN RICHARDS

BAZ RUDDICK

It’s been a big year by all accounts for Melbourne band I, A MAN. Kicking things off with a performance at Falls Festival, they’ve followed up with the release of their second EP, You’re Boring Us All. Despite what you might garner from its title, the record isn’t a stab at anyone in particular, explains lead singer and guitarist Dan Moss. “It’s the name of one of the tracks on the EP. It kinda sounds like a fitting title, with the way it was recorded. We’d record half a song then go off to play a handful of shows and come back to do another half a track which we’d finish off later. So the title isn’t a message directed at any particular person. We were also just kinda poking fun at ourselves, really.”

New York born-and-raised Steven Marks came to Australia ten years ago as an entrepreneur and investor. Disappointed by the quality of our Mexican cuisine, he decided he could do it better. Five years later, with 17 restaurants established, GUZMAN Y GOMEZ is coming to Canberra. With a fast-paced, thick New York accent, Steven told me all about GYG and why Canberra is going to lose their shit.

The sound just extends out and it’s a different experience altogether

The band are currently touring their latest single off the EP, The Scenic Route. “It came about from a little guitar melody I had. That melody carries throughout the whole song, as well as drum patterns and the bass guitar. Other guitar parts and other counter-melodies come in around it along the way. Thematically, we tried to keep that in line with the concept of ‘the scenic route’ and the song being on its own path with things happening along the way. There’s another influence there from the Talking Heads album Remain in Light. They’ll do things like keep the melody the same through the chorus, where only the vocals change. So we’ve tried to do a similar thing with this song.”

Alongside Talking Heads, Moss names a few more of the band’s musical influences. “We’ve listened to a lot of krautrock and that kinda thing while writing this EP, and a lot of ambient electronic stuff, with repetitive drum patterns, like Autechre or Boards of Canada. As well as that, there’s classic songwriting elements from bands like Wilco and even The Beatles, and dynamic and textural stuff, post rock like Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai.”

Some of these influences are quite apparent from even a first-time listen to the band’s music. It’s sweeping and epic, building patient layers of sound to reach almost orchestral heights with just the guitars and drums of a rock band. It’s a sound that craves exposure outside of small pub rooms, perhaps a good indication of where the band could be heading.

Moss agrees that the band feels a little cramped in smaller venues.

“Early this year we played a few shows with Bombay Bicycle Club,” he continues, “so we got to play at The Forum in Melbourne, which is like a dream venue for us, and also The Astor in Perth. We’re used to playing in 200-300 capacity rooms where the sound kinda caves in on you. But those times, the sound just extends out and it’s a different experience altogether.”

I, a Man are bringing their convex sound to The Front Gallery and Café on Thursday August 2, 8pm, with guests TBA. Tickets at the door.

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11 restaurants in Sydney and five in Brisbane, Canberra is lucky number 17 for Steven. Named after two of his Mexican buddies in New York, Guzman y Gomez was born from the disappointment Steven felt at the state of Sydney’s Mexican food. “When I came down here, every place we went for Mexican food was horrific.

Such a poor representation of what I grew up with. We brought in Mexican cooks from Mexico and sourced all the ingredients and started to work with it. It was incredibly hard. When we first opened it was just called ‘Guzman and Gomez Taqueria’. I just assumed everyone would know what it was. But all of a sudden we had people poking their heads in thinking it was an Indian shoe store or something. So I had to put ‘Mexican’ in front of it.”

We are fully, fully serving liquor

Using signature marinades made from Mexican imported chillies and the highest quality local produce, Guzman y Gomez has a reputation for fast service and quality. “I think we are starting to redefine speed and service. It’s called ‘fast casual’: restaurantquality food served quickly.” This, along with a fully stocked Mexican bar, makes Guzman y Gomez a good night spot. “We are fully, fully serving liquor. It’s just inherent to have great Mexican food with a cold beer.” To give Canberra a taste of GYG, on Friday August 3 they will be holding a free burrito day, all day. “From 11am until 8pm we are giving away free burritos all day. We just opened up a big store in Brisbane – we gave away over 4,600 burritos! And it isn’t just chicken and beef. The whole menu is open. So you can get a pork chipotle, half beans, no rice, extra jalapenos.”

Even if you aren’t a fan of burritos it’s sure to be a spectacle, with Steve flying down his best Mariachi band and his top guys from Sydney and Brisbane.

“Our crew is so dedicated that we are just showing off and showing how proud we are of our menu. I’m gonna be yelling all the orders with my big booming New York voice. It’s just a rush. We bring an army in to knock it off. For me, being the founder, it’s like the proudest moment.”

Time to step up to the plate, Zambreros…

Fancy yourself a connoisseur of Mexican takeaway? See how you rate Guzman y Gomez on on Friday August 3. They’ll be giving away burritos at their new store on Bunda Street, Civic. Seriously, FREE BURRITOS.

After half an hour an officer walked up and said, ‘We like your music.

You can go’

BACK BY POPULAR E-DEMAND CHRIS NAVIN Within a relatively short space of time, Sydney-based pop/indie trio SET SAIL have made a sun-drenched splash on the Australian music scene. They’re quickly proving to be one of the most exciting and likable acts around – in both their live show and in their most recent recording Hey – a six-track offering of Beach Boys-inspired, endless summer sensibilities and infectious pop melodies that leaves the listener feeling elevated and upbeat.

festival or a crowded bar, the answer is they excel. Equally at home at a festival or intimate small venues, Set Sail make it their goal to help their audience lose all inhibitions and dance the night away. “We try to get everyone involved; the last show we played we had twenty people dancing on the stage. The room was going crazy.”

Their debut release, The Riley Moore EP, sold over 14,000 copies (not bad for a band that started in 2010) and their new release seems set to further increase the roaring success of their recorded material. It features six new tracks, with the lead single Charlestown focusing on California summers and roaring twenties dancing. With an inhibition-busting sound that’s close to impossible not to like, they are worth the attention of any Canberran who’s forgotten what summer feels like.

Set Sail will be playing Transit Bar, Thursday August 2, 8pm, on their national Hey tour, with guests TBA. $10 + bf through Moshtix.

Beginning life as a group of friends at uni, they began making music as buskers with big dreams, something they still do to this day. “Even now we’re going busking between shows to pay for flights and keep everything running,” says bass player Josiah, explaining that the experience of busking taught them what people respond to, an approach that has made them one of the most resonant and accessible acts in Australia. With their money and experiences achieved through busking, Set Sail quickly made it their mission to tour internationally. They embarked on a 40-show tour of four continents that included meeting Nicole Kidman in Iceland, playing to hundreds of fans dressed only in their underwear and singer Brandon getting deported from Australia (an event that sparked an online petition with over eight thousand signatures that helped him get back into the country).

One of the highlights of their live career was being arrested in Madrid, after being sent to Spain by a fashion label to play a show. “After about two songs, two policemen walked up, shut everything down and took us to the station, after half an hour an officer walked up and said, ‘We like your music. You can go’.”

For anyone wondering how a group of student buskers would handle taking the stage at a

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DANCE THE DROP

It’s hard to maintain any kind of real excitement about summer when you wake up every morning with ‘frostrils’ (frosty nostrils, for the non-Canberrans out there). Kicks have bucked the shivery winter trend and shoved a white-hot flamethrower up our backsides with a monumental Foreshore Festival 2012 line-up announcement this month. The first round includes superstar trio Tiesto, Calvin Harris, and Example alongside a slew of impressive international supports including Bassnectar, Porter Robinson and Naughty By Nature.

Many punters have provided less-than-positive feedback about the larger scale ‘flat’ setup upon which the event has been laid over the past few seasons and the press release indicates that the 2012 festival will include a change of location to Stage 88, Regatta Point and surrounds.

If you don’t mind unwinding to a bit of the ol’ rumbly jungle on your hard-earned weekend break, look no further than The Clubhouse in August. The TJS crew has lined up two monumental bass events.

Saturday August 11 will feature New Zealand’s second most famous musical duo Concord Dawn and Saturday August 25 will boast dual headliners Drumsound & Bassline Smith (UK).

King of the scary intense promotional photo Liquid Stranger (SWE) makes his Canberra debut at Trinity Bar on Saturday September 8.

The event is up-and-coming promoter City Kid’s first event at the club and promises to be a great chance to bang your head against an invisible wall, or however you dance to dubstep (no judgment here).

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I haven’t included many new releases over the past few months so I think I’ll try and make up for it right now. Bootleg-wise, scruffy Sydneysider Chris Arnott has just uploaded a wicked new redo of Basskleph’s classic Coup D’etat. On the tech-house front my three biggest records for this month are Will Gold: Everyone Everywhere, Prok n Fitch: Symphony and Jay Lumen: Drop That. Fans of big room electro will be creaming their designer jeans when they get a load of Mind Electric’s massive remix of Cedric Gervais’ epic tune Molly, with an honorable mention also going out to Alex Preston’s new stadium-sized record Swing.

Recent Canberra visitor Surkin has just released a cool remix of Drop the Lime - Bandit Blues, one of my personal favourites DJ DLG has just released a huge ‘hands in the air’ remix of The Usual Suspects - Cant Hold On, and Paul Van Dyk has finally decided to share one of the best singles from his latest solo album, his stellar collaboration with Arty called The Ocean.

There have also been a lot of new artists that have been stepping things up in recent months. Check out names like Darth & Vader, Mr Jack from Arkham, Gabriel Batz, Reset!, Vena Cava and System Segue for all your fresh music needs. I think that’s probably enough talking from me until next issue, don’t you think? Adios amigos!

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

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THE REALNESS Hot on the heels of excellent records from Grimes, Gang Gang Dance and SpaceGhostPurpp, the ever-versatile and expanding 4AD roster continues to impress with its 2012 line-up. Just released is Twin Shadow’s second album Confess, full of neon torch anthems channelling the smoother efforts of Prince, Steely Dan and Duran Duran. Up next from the label are new albums from Purity Ring and Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. 4AD have the year on lock.

NRA Records are on the verge of releasing debut album The Sampler from Western Australian hip hop representative Mr. Grevis. The album is produced predominately by the legendary Dazastah with contributions from Rob Shaker, Paulie P and Creed Birch. Full of soulful samples and honest lyricism, Mr. Grevis is one of the most optimistic new MCs I’ve heard coming out of Australia’s hip hop scene. The album also features Jess Harlen, Porsah Lane and Soma. It’s out Friday July 20.

Past winner of the Hilltop Hoods Initiative 2011, Adelaide MC/ producer Koolta, has announced his debut album The Extraordinary Average Joe, set for release in mid-July. Entirely self-produced, recorded and mixed, Koolta’s DIY ethic is to be admired. His use of multi-instrumentation instead of sampling also sets his style apart and his introspective lyrical approach demonstrates a maturity beyond his young age. The album features appearances from Prime, Gabrielle Hyde and Queanbeyan’s own Omar Musa.

LV are set to follow up modern classic Routes with their new album Sebenza on Monday August 27 through Kode9’s Hyperdub imprint. Every tune on the new album features a South African MC and continues their exploration of South African/London crosspollination. Future dance floor music for sure. Master producer and all-round nice guy Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet is set to follow up his There Is Love In You with new release Pink through his own label Text. The eight-track album is made up of previously vinyl-only singles released in the past 12 months. It hits streets on Monday August 20 and is a must-buy.

Gilles Peterson and Mala recently undertook a trip to Cuba for Peterson’s ongoing Havana Cultura project, where Mala worked with local Cuban talent, recording live instrumentation and vocals with which he then returned to London to write and produce Mala In Cuba. Brownswood Recordings will release the album on Monday September 10. Dubstep aficionados all over the world are rightfully wetting themselves with excitement. Given that Mala has always had one foot in Jamaican sound system culture, the influence of traditional Cuban music on his work should be no less than stellar.

Jumping over to Berlin, the ever-dope Osgut Ton imprint is set to release the debut album from Barker & Baumecker. 4/4 fiends should be excited for this one; Transsektoral sets out to explore the murky water between hybridised multifaceted bass and techno rhythms. One for the midnight hour or long drives in the rain. Finally this month, Tom Krell aka How To Dress Well has announced his sophomore album Total Loss which will drop on Acephale in midSeptember. Expect more amazing minimalist R&B. Can’t wait.

To hear music from all these artists and much much more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tuesday night from 9:30pm.

Stream at www.2xxfm.org.au.

ROSHAMBO AKA CED NADA - roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

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GUERILLA’S IN THE MIDST greta kite-gilmour It’s not every day that your city’s largest cocktail lounge gets slammed by a trumpet-playing, multilingual, hip hop and poetry freestyling ‘guerilla MC’. Never one to pass up a novel opportunity, I caught up with PATAPHYSICS’ main man Pat Marks, who’s touring his Melbournebased band’s latest album, Subversive. Recently touted as an MTV Top Ten Breakout Band and having worked alongside internationally renowned artists such as Lotek, I was somewhat surprised to find myself chatting to Pat like a mate from uni; a reflection, I soon realised, of the deeply engrained philanthropic and compassionate spirit which underlies Pat’s musical and lyrical ethos. “The music I write is about the things which I have an interest in and feel strongly about: politics and society, both international and domestic. It’s my opinions about them, which I consider to be important. They’re always developing; I mean, I don’t know everything, I’m just like everyone else who’s always learning, watching the news and trying to decipher it.”

That’s more intense because that’s before they’ve gone to juvy

Pat’s interest in civil affairs was sparked at an early age by the music produced by his favourite bands. “Public Enemy were massive influences on me in my younger years, I was like, ‘Yeh, I won’t believe the hype!’ They were one of the ones who influenced me really early in that way. Also, Bob Marley – artists like that really inspired me and made me think about the world differently. Public Enemy rapping about America and Rage [Against The Machine] rapping about their world in Mexico made me really interested in those issues, but also really spawned an interest in what was happening over here. Some bands can just light that fire in you and wake you up.”

Pat’s socio-political stance is not limited to its expression within the music industry. Alongside producing, composing and mixing, Pat is the Music & Arts coordinator of RISE (Refugees, Survivors, and ExDetainees), where he runs music, beat-making, poetry, and recording workshops for young refugee artists and runs the music and hip hop programs for juvenile justice detainees in Melbourne.

My admiration was clearly audible when I questioned him about this, but he merely chuckled, “Yeh, it’s kind of intense at times. I really think it’s good though. It’s a hard one sometimes, I gotta say, but I also teach at a community high school one day a week and that’s more intense because that’s before they’ve gone to juvy…” Remaining steadfast in his humility, he added, “I really enjoy working with them though ‘cos it’s a good opportunity to work on my drumming or power chords again.

Hip hop is the one that got me, but for others there it’s other genres – death metal, punk or whatever. Music is just as powerful whether it’s hip hop or rock. It has that same effect depending on the person. It becomes your life… everything in that genre is your life.”

Pataphysics will headline the monthly Big Bang Saturday at Digress Cocktail Lounge, Saturday July 28. A poetry slam hosted by local rapper BRB will kick off at 7.30pm, with DJ Old School Al supporting. $15 door.

METALISE Back to fortnightly updates and the brutal shows keep stacking up locally, as well as up the Hume Highway for fans of all degrees of the heavy spectrum.

Hot on the tail of the news of Earth’s September tour is another drone spectacular, with Heathen Skulls presenting a great double bill of SUNN O))) and Pelican hitting Australian shores in October.

The Southern Lord label-mates will be in Sydney on Thursday October 25 at The Hi-Fi. Fear Factory will be hitting the same venue when they return to Australia, with a Thursday September 27 show on the cards, and I’m sure that cavernous place will be well rumbled by the end of both shows.

Foetal Harvest, King Parrot, Aversions Crown, Voyager, Disentomb, Aeon Of Horus, Desecrator, House Of Thumbs, Law Of The Tongue, The Reverend Jesse Custer, Alice Through The Windshield Glass, Futility, Mytile Vey Lorth, House Of Thumbs and Descending Upon Eden all joining the fray. It’s going to be a big couple of days!

Fans of Australian heavy music should be pleased to hear that Matt Skitz (Damaged et al.) is at the core of a group of passionate fans putting together a new TV pilot on all things Australian and heavy.

They were up shooting interviews at the recent Hardcore 2012 festival in Sydney and are in the process of collating a tonne of footage for the show.

Hope to see that hit the airwaves later on this year.

Unkle K’s Band of the Week: Karcavul – a black sludge band from France: http://karcavul.bandcamp.com.

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

Nasum are also in Sydney at The Hi-Fi with Psycroptic, Captain Cleanoff and Dyscarnate on Saturday August 18. As if that wasn’t enough, the promoter is also bringing Russian Circles back to Canberra on Thursday October 4 at ANU Bar and bringing along the amalgamation of all things heavy in the form of two-piece Eagle Twin. It’s a big charge of big shows happening through winter and spring.

Of course, there are a couple of options on this weekend with The Basement in Belconnen hosting Sydney’s long running band Frenzal Rhomb with I Exist and Super Best Friends on Saturday July 21. Despite the news of the venue going into receivership, The Sandringham Hotel in Newtown will be honouring all of its current gig bookings until the end of the year. So that’s something.

This includes Slaughterfest V on Saturday July 21 with Lo!, Agonhymn, Mother Eel, Mish, We Lost The Sea, Brazen Bull, Moth, Broozer, At Dark, Not Like Horse, Lomera, The Downgoing and Yurei. This also extends to hosting Bastardfest in November as well.

Speaking of which, most of the line-up for the two Canberra shows has been announced now for The Basement on Fri-Sat November 9-10 with Blood Duster, Fuck... I’m Dead, I Exist, Captain Cleanoff, Daemon

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

COLD WAR IN THE FAMILY BEN HERMANN Between 1955 and 1963 the British conducted a number of nuclear tests in the Maralinga Desert near Woomera, South Australia.

Despite an initial ‘cleanup’ in 1967, in 1985 it was conceded that significant radiation hazards existed in the area. In 1994, nearly 40 years after the tests began, the Australian Government acknowledged the severe effect the tests had on the Aboriginal owners of the land and paid $13.5 million in compensation to the local Maralinga Tjarutja people.

“It was probably Australia’s first worst-kept secret,” says Trevor Jamieson who, in Big hART’s NGAPARTJI NGAPARTJI ONE, narrates his family’s history in the Maralinga area, their first encounters with non-Indigenous Australians and the religious missions, and their experiences during the Cold War and the fallout of the Maralinga testing. “It’s a topic that a lot of people have never known about,” he says. “Many Australians haven’t even heard of the British coming here to test atomic bombs in their backyard during the Cold War.” Written by Jamieson and Big hART’s Creative Director Scott Rankin, the production was awarded the 2008 Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Achievement in Film, TV and Theatre, with Jamieson also winning the 2008 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role.

“My side was to look at the storytelling of the families out in the dessert,” Jamieson says of the creative development of the production by him and Rankin. “I went out and sat down with the elders and got the testimonies of the people who actually witnessed [the nuclear testing].”

The play also weaves in the parallel experience of a Japanese woman who experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the Cold War experiences of an Australian soldier. “It’s written so each of the three stories reflect each other and is interwoven so people understand how nuclear testing has affected a lot of people in different parts of the world,” he says.

In a style that has become popularly associated with Rankin and Jamieson, Ngapartji Ngapartji one mixes traditional storytelling, tragedy, humour, pop-culture references and direct audience participation to both entertain and educate audiences about the history of Indigenous Australians; a style Canberra audiences will recognise from Big hART’s Namatjira.

The use of visual artists onstage, painting in the background during Jamieson’s storytelling also originated with Ngapartji Ngapartji one, Jamieson saying that despite not being actors, many of the artists love the new experience. “They always ring up and ask when we’re touring the show again,” he says.

Early on in the play, Jamieson teaches the audience to speak some Pitjantjatjara by taking them through a rendition of Kata, Alipiri,

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Muti, Tjina (Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes) and explaining the importance of language to Indigenous Australians and the speed at which many languages are dying.

“It’s a struggle, but the only reason is modern technology,” Jamieson says. “My family only came out of the dessert 50 years ago and the younger generations are still adapting to change.

Technology and exposure to western culture dilutes our language and cultures, but in some ways it keeps our stories alive. We have videos and iPhones and apps to help us record our stories and ensure they continue. The language is still strong out on the land but it’s a constant struggle to ensure it survives once it becomes exposed to the western world.”

The production is also just one part of Big hART’s Ngapartji Ngapartji project based in Alice Springs, which aims to reengage marginalised Indigenous communities.

“There’s a whole many different levels to the project – engaging with young people and making small films,” Jamieson explains, “but also talking to the elders about the life of the town, what happened in the old days. We’re trying to join the gaps between young and old. We also go into the prison system and sit down with people and teach them music. All of it is aimed at bringing to the community a sense of culture and the ability to tell stories in a theatrical way.”

Ngapartji Ngapartji one is an incredibly personal story for Jamieson. Throughout our conversation he constantly draws attention to the temporal proximity of the events of the play and the fact that they occurred in the lifetimes of a majority of the audience.

Recounting, night after night, the story of his family’s suffering not simply from exposure to western society, but from exposure to one of the most destructive forces ever created by humans, is clearly unlike any other performance.

“Each time I come back to it, it’s always hard. To come back and read it again, you think of all those emotions and they slowly come back to you,” Jamieson says; and then, “Look, it’s just bloody hard,” he says, sighing tiredly, as though the thought of the story itself can take the energy out of him.

“There are points in the show that it’s really hard for me to go back to. I’ve got all these old feelings – the displacement of my family; what’s happened to my family. For people to be brave like my family were and to lose people like they did, they’re still suffering post-trauma. These are my people. They’ve just got incredible strength and I don’t know how they do it.”

Ngapartji Ngpartji one will show at The Playhouse at Canberra Theatre Centre from Wed-Sat July 25-28. Tickets from Canberra Ticketing: (02) 6275 2700 or www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

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ALLAN SKO Two things you want to learn from an article on NOEL FIELDING: is he as nice as I think he is, and just how the hell does that brain of his work? In short, yes he’s utterly charming, and no, after 25 minutes his mental machinations remain a mystery, even to himself. Observe.

Years ago, Noel’s animator/artist friend Nigel Coan was at the beach when his son found a shell. “It looked like a face, and we were always laughing at it and going, ‘That’s ridiculous and quite beautiful’,” says Noel. “[Concurrently] I was taken with the idea of doing some silent comedy, something a bit more cartoony; I really like Jack Tatty and Buster Keaton. Nigel had the idea of using that shell as an almost CGI photographic face transplanted onto my head and we were like, ‘Is that going to work?’ Something about its deadness and stillness is really powerful... He’s like a horrific Mr Bean.” And so we have Daddy Push - one of over 30 colourful characters in Fielding’s utterly bonkers new show, Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy - who grooves to spoken word Sherlock Holmes and makes origami push-up bras.

Birthed with long-term art school friend Nigel Coan - the director and creator of the show’s psychedelic animations - Luxury is Noel’s first outing since the cult-creating The Mighty Boosh with jazz fiend Julian Barratt. Part sketch show, part bizarre sitcom, the six half-hour episodes are insane, surreal and creepy. They are also inspired, strangely hilarious and unlike anything else.

The two people who commissioned my show are always joking about getting fired. It’s hilarious

“It’s like a fucked up children’s show,” Fielding purrs in that oh-so familiar voice. “We thought, let’s do a lot of ideas, and leave it quite loose and make it pretty random. 30 seconds or eight minutes - that’s fine, let’s allow ideas the time they deserve. And if they’re just a one-off that’s fine.”

But not even Noel was prepared for his own brain.

“Unfortunately, the thing with me is, I write in a certain way where I like to have a regular group of people for stuff that’s a bit more sitcom-y. There’s sketches where I play a version of myself with an Andy Warhol butler, so the show turned into a half-sketch halfsitcom hybrid which probably was slightly inelegant but we just thought, ‘Fuck it, let’s do everything’. It was like machinegun fire, just opening up the head, and there was a sort of punkness to that I really like, a purity. And it was a bit wonky in places but that’s what I needed to do after the Boosh. This was me going a bit crazy.

Especially with the colours.”

Noel’s trademark husky Mutley-esque laugh permeates the entire chat. He becomes particularly chucklesome when recalling the ethos of the show and the pain he put Nigel through.

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“We gave the music and the aesthetic as much attention. I probably made a mistake calling it Luxury Comedy!” he laughs.

“It felt more like an art project. Aesthetically we wanted to make something that was beautiful but it was too much work for just two people; I think I nearly killed my best friend! People think the Daddy Push shell head is a mask, hilariously, but Nigel painstakingly creates that over the top of my own head and if I don’t keep still enough, it creates an extra week’s work for him.

It’s a nightmare!

“Nigel’s brilliant, he came up with so many techniques,” Noel enthuses. “He trusted my comic instincts and I trusted his aesthetic. I ended up working with Sergio from Kasabian; we wrote the tunes together and took that really seriously as well. I think we tried to do too much. But Channel 4 are good; they gave me a second series almost straight away. They were happy for me to experiment and not many people are given that chance. It’s much harder now to get things made. The two people who commissioned my show are always joking about getting fired; it’s hilarious.”

Although there’s nothing set in stone, Noel intends to tour and include Australia. We workshop the idea of how Luxury Comedy the live show could work. “Maybe I could do it like one big costume that you get rid of, each layer revealing a new character? That would be amazing. And then the last one’s your own skin, and you dance about as a skeleton. [A:] ‘Have you seen Noel Fielding’s show? He tears his own skin off and becomes a skeleton.’ [B:] ‘I’ll have to check that out; is it funny?’ [A:] ‘No, it’s horrific...’”

For now we shall have to content ourselves with the first series and the prospect of a second. “I’m going to keep the successful characters, and come up with new ones,” he reveals. “I like Fantasy Man and the cop, and Dondylion. They’re the three main ones. And I like Daddy Push, actually, and Secret Peter. I mean, there was obviously,” he laughs the next words, “some ones which are just for myself, like Doorag and The Audience. You’ve got to do some stuff to keep people on their toes. I’ve got a new one that I’m pretty excited about called The Human Mistake who bores through the earth’s core into award ceremonies and then receives an award and says really inappropriate things; his speeches are always absolutely horrific; everyone pukes up or is absolutely disgusted and then he bores back through the earth. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be a winner!” he beams.

“I might involve a live audience as well. I’m getting excited. I feel like I can go back to narrative. We did so many stories for the Boosh I felt I couldn’t do when writing something on my own but I feel I can go back there, back to the narrative beast, which is a nightmare unto itself, a tapestry of madness, like a Japanese jigsaw. But it’s worth it in the end. Ahhhh comedy... What a weird thing to do.”

A 3500-word transcription of this interview can be found at www.bmamag. com. Topics include dying on stage, Chris Lilley, and how reality TV is like heroine. We have ten copies of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy to win. To enter, email allan@bmamag.com with your favourite piece of Noel comedy.

JUSTIN HOOK Of course it had to happen. It was just a matter of time before ‘hipster culture’ – whatever that loose catchall term is meant to really mean is anybody’s guess – was skewered mercilessly on a TV sketch show. What is surprising is that the show in question, PORTLANDIA, was not only very funny but also had a degree of warmth directed at its targets. Satire can be unnecessarily bitter; Portlandia is anything but.

Indeed the residents of Portland actually are quite fond of a little gentle ribbing, according to co-creator, actor and writer Carrie Brownstein. “It feels like we are running a marathon and the people of Portland are cheering us on. We wouldn’t be able to make the show without the auspices of Portland.

We film on location, using people’s homes and local businesses, so we really count on the charity and goodwill of the city and feel of course a mutual affection for them.

These are people and cities we both feel very much a part of. We don’t see ourselves as separate form it. If anything it’s a love letter to Portland and from Portland.”

If anything it’s a love letter to Portland and from Portland

Portlandia grew out of a series of short videos made by Brownstein and writing partner Fred Armisen (10-year Saturday Night Live veteran). These small beginnings made it easier once networks started showing interest.

“I feel very lucky about the way Portlandia was created and the genesis of the show was not too unlike forming a band.”

It should be noted that Brownstein might know a thing or two about this, being one third of legendary Pacific Northwest powerhouse trio Sleater-Kinney and singer/guitarist in the equally brilliant Wild Flag. Armisen is no stranger to the stage either, doubling as a drummer in his spare time and even turning up on Les Savy Fav’s 2007 album, Let’s Stay Friends.

The pair take some of that punk rock spirit to their new venture.

“Fred and I had been friends for many years and the fact we could do this as a labour of love made it very different from a situation where two executives schemed up which actors to pick for the show. It was very much us creating the show for ourselves in the DIY spirit.”

Brownstein and Armisen have a uniquely symbiotic working relationship that is often mistaken for an actual non-working hours relationship, something that was discussed at great length in a recent New Yorker article about the pair. To say it’s intimate is an understatement, but Brownstein admits they got it right.

“Yeah, I think so. We have a very close friendship. Fred’s one of my closest friends; we spend a lot of time together and have a good chemistry. So it’s easy to have a great time working with each other.” And despite spending most her working life behind a

Gibson SG, the transition to writing hasn’t been so hard. For a few years Brownstein contributed to National Public Radio (NPR) and penned the occasional column for Slate magazine, so it was hardly jumping in at the deep end.

“I think first season there were definitely some moments where it felt new to me but Fred and me had been working together on short videos before so I had gotten used to his comic sensibility and honed in on our collective voice. There was a learning curve but a lot of it is just intuition, timing and being able to make keen observations about things.”

At the moment, the Portlandia team are finishing writing a third season that consists of ten episodes plus a special. The forthcoming season also marks a change for the show in that they are trying to take a longer view of character and plot, as Brownstein explains. “For me the question that is more interesting is ‘Who are these people? What makes them tick? What makes them angry? What are there motivations?’ So I think we will delve more into that. We need there to be characters that people can relate to and care about.”

They are also learning quickly about the potential traps of character-based sketch shows with limited focus.

“We are going into this season wanting to work more on character development. With sketch shows you don’t want it to be conceptbased. You have to look at the bigger picture and not get too microscopic but, then again, you don’t want to lose the specificity; you want to keep the pacing and energy of a sketch show. Were very excited about where things are going this season.”

One of the more exciting things for viewers is anticipating the guest star list for each episode. Unsurprisingly there has been a steady stream of musicians to cameo on the show; Aimee Mann, Sarah McLachlan, The Shins’ James Mercer, The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy and Sleater-Kinney cohort Corin Tucker. Then you add the non-musicians like Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), Steve Buscemi, Gus Van Sant, Tim Robbins and Kyle McLachlan as the clueless mayor.

You get the impression Portlandia is the show to be seen on and guests are clamouring to get onto the set. As it turns out that’s partially true. “Yeah, that happens sometimes. It’s very flattering but the other half of the time is approaching people we have a specific role for. We feel very fortunate that we have a show that people are interested in participating in.”

Ultimately for Brownstein, Portlandia’s good fortune came as a complete shock. “I don’t think anyone can predict an exact formula of what people are going to latch onto, what is going to catch an audience’s imagination. We just feel lucky that it’s a show people watch and talk about.”

Portlandia: Season One will be released on DVD Wednesday August 1. BMA Magazine will have ten copies for giveaway. If you’d like a copy, email allan@bmamag.com with your best hipster anecdote.

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MANUFACTURING PERCEPTION LAUREN STRICKLAND We see ourselves differently from how we are seen; we want to be seen in a certain way; we understand the world through other people. These are the ideas broached by four Canberra artists in their exhibition SMOKE AND MIRRORS, an upcoming show at the ANCA Gallery about representations of the human figure in contemporary art. The group each work with different mediums: Daniel Edwards with textiles, Alexander Boynes with a combination of spray paint, etching techniques and light installation, and Annika Harding and Kate Barker with traditional paint mediums but unorthodox styles. Their common desire is to bring figurative art back into the forefront of the Canberra art scene.

“At this point in time, like we’ve never had in the past, we’ve got a real opportunity to present ourselves in the way that we want to be seen,” Boyne says. “We all have friends on Facebook that constantly put up ridiculous photos of themselves as proof, ‘My life is awesome’. It’s all smoke and mirrors; it’s all about how you want to represent yourself.” Edwards uses social networking-sourced imagery in concert with nostalgic materials – flannel shirts and woollen blankets sourced from op shops. For Edwards, these fabrics are intrinsically masculine and he uses them to create portraits and silhouettes of bearded men who post their likenesses on the gay social networking site, Scruff. “It’s like how they see themselves, as a portrait, not how I view them.”

“We’ve all had images to work with through the internet at some stage,” Harding says. “The photograph is a complete entity and it shows everything exactly as it was.” She indicates Barker’s painting Sandwiches: two ‘50s-era figures in beach attire, a large empty space cut out of their legs where a sandwich tray would have rested in the original photograph. “By leaving things out, you’re left with a more accurate representation of the memory, that moment in time which is now incomplete because of its distance.”

“I think figurative representation has a great deal to do with memory – whether you like it or not. There’s always a strange sense of nostalgia,” says Boynes. His illuminated figures are bodies captured mid-movement, working with contemporary dancers and imagery from the London riots in 2011 as his models. “I’ve always been interested in capturing that movement and dynamism in the body.”

The figures in Harding’s work are much smaller and static; a point of focus in a vast landscape. Harding sums up the basic appeal of figurative work. “People instinctively want to associate with other people to share experiences.” Smoke and Mirrors is an eclectic exhibition about the way in which we see ourselves, how this shifts and changes with time and, in our modern lives, with an audience.

Smoke and Mirrors is showing from Wed-Sun July 18-29 at ANCA Gallery, Dickson. The exhibition is open Wed-Sun, 12pm-5pm. Free.

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ARTISTPROFILE: Adam Kinninmont What do you do?

I paint and print, draw big things and small, and use various themes and techniques – mostly relating to radioactive dinosaurs and the apocalypse. On occasion I look to society for everyday influences. I am currently studying Honours in Print Media & Drawing at the ANU Art School.

When did you get into it?

Since I was a youngling, eating cereal when watchin’ my cartoons.

What pisses you off?

Fake posers and Crocs.

What’s your opinion of the local scene?

I like it. It can be a little dead at times, but the art scene is tightknit and I have met a lot of people and made some really positive connections. I think Canberra has a lot of potential.

Upcoming exhibitions?

I have a group show at Canberra City Framing Gallery on Friday November 2 and I’ll also be in the grad show at the end of the year.

Contact Info: https://adamkinninmont.tumblr.com or adam_jk@live.com.au.

Who or what influences you as an artist?

So many artists but particularly cartoonist Charles Schultz. I am big on the Dadaist, Surrealist and Pop Art movements. My work is a mash-up of popular references and is a subliminal/natural process which conveys my thoughts and resolves them on paper.

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

My biggest achievement thus far would be completing my third year at uni, as my work has developed immensely over this period – so proud!

What are your plans for the future?

To develop an intergalactic voyager in which I can party on in space forever!

And maybe, like, move around having fun… do some shows, sell some pictures, that kind of thing…

What makes you laugh?

Adventure Time!

And BMO.

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THE VIEW FROM INSIDE CHLOE MANDRYK Sacha Jeffrey’s exhibition SELF PORTRAIT is the latest instalment in Honkytonks’ artsy home brew and it goes down well. The fortnightly exhibitions at the bar reinvent the space, lending it a growing reputation as a spot for a fresh crop of Canberrans.

2012 has seen a pop-up fashion show, the collective effort of Canberra Art School students and graphic-design-come-streetart on t-shirts, board and typography. Sacha agrees, “It’s nice to see more spaces dedicated to giving younger artists a leg up and fostering the art community… It is really important for young artists, and old, to keep exploring other work.”

Self Portrait is a collection of paintings, vignette drawings, collage and two anthropomorphic wall panels inspired by the idea that a work of art holds a mirror to the artist. What emerges is an acknowledgement of the power of art to develop artifice but express introspection. The large paintings in the show are the most successful of the group, using bold colour and snippets of appropriation to develop this conversation that – while we are included – he is ultimately having with himself.

Some recurring symbols run through the exhibition: namely, a nightmarish or exotic meeting of the male figure with an animal body, disembodied hands and bones, sharp lines and a sense of entrapment. Massive slaps of bright solid colour lend a sunny tone to their melancholic outlook. In addition to this, Sacha refers to two canons of art history, Pop and Abstraction, by appropriating some key symbols of two male artists who pushed through the status quo with their rebel aesthetic.

Sacha’s nod to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso is apparent in images of golden crowns, a truncated horse and text embedded into the images titled Exile, Temptation, Where Are We Going? and Coronation. Of these large paintings Sacha says, “I try not to overthink or plan. I like to work fairly impulsively and gouache and ink suits this immediate approach. There might be a few hits and misses but my process is one that relies heavily on my own set of symbols and motifs translated into allegorical narrative.”

Sacha explains that his works draws out the idiosyncrasies of a masculine personality – his own in particular. He draws and paints the experience of vanity, doubt, temptation, ambition, rage and reactions. With work that is concerned with impulse, it comes as little surprise when the artist admits, “I only realised that the exhibition was going to be about a kind of introspective, exploratory self-portraiture after I had completed most of the works.”

Self Portrait is showing until Wednesday July 25 at Honkytonks, Garema Place, as part of the fortnightly Wednesdays Off The Wall exhibitions. Free.

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UNINHIBITED Back in June, the ramblings of Emily Grant, an intern at National Public Radio in the US, caused a brief ruckus on Twitter. Grant wrote on the NPR blog: “I’ve only bought 15 CDs in my lifetime. Yet, my entire iTunes library exceeds 11,000 songs.”

Her piece was positioned as an acute generational tale, a missive from the modern music fan. It suggested that Grant was emblematic of a generation who happily took music without payment. Soon enough, figures as disparate as Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos (“If we can steal, we will. Especially if we convince ourselves it’s not stealing”) and ABC Radio’s Mark Colvin (“Read this and buy an album today”) took to Twitter to critique. David Lowery, of the briefly-known ‘90s indie band Cracker, produced a widely circulated slapdown on his blog. The hounds were released.

My own history of musical obsession straddles the online world, and hence allows insights particular to those of my vintage. I grew up with cassingles and CDs, my father’s vinyl LPs being consigned to the bargain bin. The tapes tore and broke, the CDs scratched and slowly I came to understand the presence of the vinyl sleeve and peculiar pleasure that came from putting a needle on a spinning disc.

And yet, access was the problem. As a kid growing up in the country, records were scarce. Each great record begat another and my budget could never keep up with my appetite.

When file-sharing became a common practice in early 2000, I embraced it. Finally, I had it all. The live versions. The bootlegs. The remixes. These initial excursions were replete with justifications; yes, I downloaded illegally, but if I loved the record I would buy it. I would. Soon. Promise. These excuses, alongside the more obvious and fraught, ‘I’m only downloading because record companies are vast behemoths and they can afford it’, don’t hide that point that Kapranos makes: we steal because we can.

So much of modern consumption is predicated on the inability to ever have enough. This is the subtext that informs every new season of fashion, every technological update, each refinement added to vehicles and kitchen goods and whatever objects you care to mention. How else can we keep up? When the dominant societal structure is telling you ‘more’ and your bank balance won’t abide, theft happens.

There’s a much longer piece to be written about the cultural shifts that have been brought about by the death of music’s business model, but one minor element strikes me as the most interesting; I stopped downloading because I couldn’t keep up. I owned a vast amount of LPs, CDs and MP3s but I was beginning to lose track of the actual recorded matter. I had too many records to listen to. Five years ago I could sing along, chart chord changes and bore you to death with notes on instrumentation. With the amount of music I had acquired I was losing my love for, and my relationship with, the most important bit of the package: the tunes. So I slowed the consumption down and turned to my record store – not my laptop – to provide the songs. I’m not about to judge anyone whose record collection is made up of ones and zeros. But for me, establishing a relationship with a record takes time, and that relationship is strengthened by the physical object and the exchange of cash. Not only is it right, but it’s better that way.

GLEN MARTIN glenpetermartin@gmail.com

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IN REVIEW

Lenny Henry: Cradle To Rave Canberra Theatre Sunday July 1 Touted as ‘a comic cabaret voyage’, this reviewer-come-musician couldn’t have been happier to appraise a show. Usually the idea of comedians dabbling in music elicits spinal shudders; this time you can lay that thought aside.

The only thing more noticeable on the stage than a genuine Steinway piano was an amazing visual backdrop of classic album covers spanning from Louis Armstrong to Ziggy Stardust. You may wonder why I have described these seminal album covers as amazing. The answer is that Lenny had superimposed his own head onto these covers: imagine the Lenny quartet of Queen, or a topless Lenny with Ziggy Stardust lightning across his face.

After the house lights went down, Lenny Henry exploded on stage to a Prince song with a sexy swagger to rival pop royalty itself.

Despite music being the central theme, Lenny entertained with his favourite impressions (Ali and Scooby Doo) and his near unbeatable off-the-cuff humour. Of course, there were jokes about prostitutes, which could be seen as highly inappropriate anywhere else but here in Canberra.

During the show I found myself comparing Lenny’s brain to a road map: thousands of tiny red lines going every which way, and just when you thought you were completely lost he brings it full circle to a point no-one expected but to which everyone related.

Lenny seemed highly aware of his audience and his generational humour was spot-on. Nothing was off-limits either; from Attenborough to Michael Jackson, 50 Cent to a cow in a field exclaiming, ‘Bono has lost his edge’, to the inner workings of a giraffe’s mind as it peers through a window at a blue-light disco. And that, my friends, was only the first act.

For a man of 53, Lenny is energetic and insightful. He admitted to cranking music during the intermission to pump himself up for Act Two. After the crowd had settled back in, Lenny once again took to the stage to the velvety sounds of Prince.

If Act One was a maze of madness, Act Two took the audience further down the rabbit hole: crumping to the story of Genesis, politics and pop music – even Churchill’s famous war speech was set to AC/DC’s Back In Black. He jumped from Disney to death row, dogs to De Niro and even described Sade as a musical laxative.

Lenny finished the night with an accomplished version of his dad’s favourite song, Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill. His rendition was flawless and everyone joined in. Like a fine wine, Lenny has improved with age and shows no signs of slowing down.

Grant freeman

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bit PARTS WHO: Canberra Youth Theatre Junior Ensemble WHAT: Insomniac Attack WHEN: Wed-Sat July 18-21 WHERE: Gorman House Arts Centre, C Block Theatre Often referred to as ‘digital natives’, younger generations seem to operate more competently in a hi-tech world than their ‘digital immigrant’ forerunners. In Canberra Youth Theatre’s new production Insomniac Attack, the digital natives of the Junior Ensemble dazzle with their technological prowess and invite others, both fellow natives and immigrants, to explore their theatrical world. Led by director/animateur Cathy Petöcz and designed by Imogen Keen, Insomniac Attack is an original electrotheatre piece devised by the actors, exploring night-time horrors and everyday fears. Puppets and live performance breathe life into creatures of the night, haunting on-stage ‘Insomniacs’ and audience alike. Tickets are $10/$12/$15 from www.cytc.net/productions.

WHO: Craft ACT & The Embassy of Spain WHAT: Foodjects WHEN: Fri Jul 20 – Sat Aug 25 WHERE: Craft ACT Foodjects is an exhibition of objects and utensils that have been spawned from the movement towards the ‘new Spanish cuisine’, founded on surprising the palate with an unexpected flavour, texture or temperature. Over 100 innovative objects will be on display, each of which are masterfully designed, beautifully crafted and unique to Spain. Like the gastronomical movement that gave rise to their invention, they are often a twist on the traditional; surprising and pleasing to the senses. The opening event is on Thursday July 19, 6pm. Free.

WHO: Canberra ZinestArs WHAT: ZinestAr Meet-up WHEN: Sat Jul 21 WHERE: Smiths Alternative Bookshop DIY/independent press/cut & paste: all are still important concepts in today’s technology-driven world, and in no other written practice is it more evident than the art of zine-making. An abbreviation of fanzine, or magazine, ‘zines’ are a small circulation publication of original texts and images. Canberra ZinestArs, Nat and Chiara, wish to share the zine love at the initial Canberra ZinestAr meet-up to discuss recent zine makes, purchases, ideas etc. – the zinerelated topics are endless. Open to all, zine-maker or not. Come along and get crazy with the gluestick! See www.facebook.com/ events/334161409999774/ for more info. 12:30pm. Free.

WHO: Canberra Contemporary Art Space Residents WHAT: Salute WHEN: Sun-Fri July 22-27 WHERE: Photo Space Gallery, ANU School of Art Salute is an energetic exhibition of new works by the 2012 Canberra Contemporary Art Space residents. Each of the featured artists share an appreciation for diverse materials, colours, found objects and strong sense of irony and humour. Their diverse collection of photography, painting, sculpture and print-making stands to attention, taps its cap, bows, sounds an alarm, but most importantly pays respect to materials and ideas that inspire Canberra’s artists.

For more info contact juliaboydphoto@gmail.com or visit www.juliahboyd.com. 9am-5pm. Free.

WHO: Bedroom Boogiers WHAT: No Lights No Lycra WHEN: Every Tuesday WHERE: Corroboree Park Hall Everyone loves to dance. For many of us, however, the thought of flashing lights, wandering hands and dance floors so sticky you can actually lose your shoe is a bit yucky. All of us have a tiny Kevin Bacon inside of us, but an aversion to death-by-stomping-stiletto means that our groovy manoeuvres are held captive in our kitchens and bedrooms. At No Lights No Lycra there is no light, no Lycra, no teacher, no technique, just great tunes and free movement in the dark. So don your favourite tracky-daks and dance like no-one’s watching. 7:30pm. $5.

WHO: National University Theatre Society (NUTS) WHAT: God of Carnage WHEN: Wed-Sat Aug 1-4 WHERE: Drama Lab, ANU Arts Centre Four New York parents smash social norms when they meet to discuss an altercation between their children. Manners and kindness inevitably fall victim to the god of carnage, drawing the family and audience into chaotic pandemonium. As the parents seek to resolve their disagreements, nit-picking and name-calling quickly degenerates into accusations, mockery and violence. Using comedy to dissect polite facades and social niceties, God of Carnage confronts audiences with primal desires and emotions denied by normal society. Bookings can be made at http://www.trybooking. com/BQHF. $5-$20.

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the word

on albums

album of the issue

Dirty Projectors SWING LO MAGELLAN [DOMINO]

Being a critical favourite is an odd spot to occupy within the exalted indiesphere.

Your records will garner enough attention to draw punters to your shows but crowds might stand in a state of mass confusion, assuming that the critic knows something they don’t and giving a difficult act the benefit of that doubt.

Previously I have stood before Dirty Projectors contemplating the fuss.

I get why they’re lauded; on-point, skittering rhythms, an obvious auteur out front, some otherworldly harmonising. But the ‘difficulty’ that one critic might adore left me cold.

I could sense great songs somewhere under the whooping and wailing and wondered why the band and its mercurial leader Dave Longstreth fought so hard to hide them.

Swing Lo Magellan is the moment where the shtick is dropped and songs are allowed to be songs. You can hear a new directness on the single Gun Has No Trigger, or

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the pastoral title track. The mashed genres and kitchensink melodicism remains, but it fits more comfortably.

More importantly, there’s a comfortable awareness of the ridiculous skating across the LP. You glimpse it in the first few awkwardly hummed bars of opener Offspring Are Blank, and again in the coughs and tics left on tape.

The sweet chastisement of vocalist Amber Coffman on Unto Caeser brings the point home – the band knows that they’re right on the edge of chin-stroking parody and they’re embracing it. This record is fun as a result.

In short, Dirty Projectors seem to have grown into themselves, filled out, learnt how to work the gawky limbs of the previous affectations.

They’ve become a significant, perfectly proportioned outfit unlike any other currently working within the margins of pop culture.

Critics might mourn the yelps and the frequent excursions into nu-jazz time signature oddities, but let ‘em. Swing Lo Magellan is a funky, lovely winner.

GLEN MARTIN

joey bada$$ 1999 [INDEPENDENT]

the hives lex hives [dew process/universal]

It’s been a while since somebody debuted with a sound you’d attribute to mid‘90s hip hop from Brooklyn.

Simple beats with soul; honest lyrics about the streets, ruminations on politics in the USA and the plight of black Americans; references to the legends of the past and the eternal hip hop hooks; personal, romantic and social reflections.

Think Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt. At 17 years old, Joey Bada$$ has a strong opinion on how hip hop ought to sound and he’s executed it in such a way that modern deviations seem unnecessary. He’s collected beats from producers who evoke that: MF Doom and J Dilla among others.

Well-known for their fondness for dressing in black and white, Swedish garage-punkers The Hives have unleashed a fresh tide of belligerent yells and aggressive licks in Lex Hives.

The opener is the essence of punk, with the furious repetition of ‘Come On!’ at a crazy velocity.

Simplicity can be a very effective recipe.

They serve him well but the beats aren’t what stick. The greats from that era, in a throng of MCs rapping about the same things, did it in such a way that they shone through. Joey Bada$$’s hook is he doesn’t want to sling drugs, smoke weed and fuck bitches. He wants a life worth living – with a family, a wife and a home. He wants to look himself in the eyes with a dignity he’s earned.

The tracks that set him apart are the ones on which he doesn’t gun for fame but asks for an out.

He’s a real person.

As a member of ‘Progressive Era’, Bada$$’s mixtape features verses from fellow members.

They’re weak but some of the finest production comes from Bruce Leekix and Vin Skully, also members, so it evens out.

This is rock solid hip hop. Get online for a free DL. ASHLEY THOMSON

Go Right Ahead keeps it uncomplicated too, with added howls, yowls and drooping fag-end attitude. The guitars have a gorgeous catchiness that rises in pitch with the invitation to misbehave. This track carries the CD’s quirkiest songwriting: “Our god is a zilla/ our king is a kong.” The surface messages are anthems to greed, insatiable appetites and a supreme self-confidence: “I’ve got 1000 answers, one’s gotta be right.” However, The Hives are using their high speed music to spread the word that we are living too fast and wanting too much. Pel Almqvist’s pugnacious vocals make every blow count as he blasts out lyrics that resonate with thinly-veiled sarcasm. Only once does the band descend from the punk pedestal to catch some gutter blues in Without the Money, but the effect is less successful than the bulk of the material. But most of it is right on the money, with the hip thrusting vibe of I Want More and the fuzzy raggedness of Take Back The Toys.

It’s sure to have the departed members of The Ramones dancing in heaven.

Rory Mccartney

simian mobile disco unpatterns [wichita/liberator]

liars wixiw [mute/emi]

the longest day beyond your skies [feral media]

the cult choice of weapon [cooking vinyl/shock]

While James Ford and Jas Shaw’s preceding album as Simian Mobile Disco, 2009’s Temporary Pleasure, offered up their most collaborationpacked collection yet, with the likes of Gruff Rhys, Hot Chip and Beth Ditto making appearances, three years on this third album, Unpatterns, is a different proposition. Gone are the overt electro-house hooks of SMD’s previous albums in favour of a darker, minimalist collection of predominantly instrumental tracks. Indeed, the sole ‘real’ vocal collaboration arrives here in the form of Put Your Hands Together, which sees Jamie Lidell’s signature falsetto yelp being cut-up and looped into another rhythmic element amidst a sheeny backdrop of tech-house rhythms and proggy electronics.

SMD seem to be reaching for the same sort of territory populated by the likes of Slam and Underworld – i.e. one that balances a penchant for soaring main room tunes with a more ‘underground’ sensibility. For the most part, they succeed in conjuring up plenty of dark drama, with opener Waited For You offering up this album’s grittiest moment as vaguely Italo synths flit against a relentless backdrop of grinding machine rhythms. Elsewhere, though, there’s the sense that the deployment of slightly anodyne vocal loops over throbbing tech-house beats veers to the ‘functional’ side of things, to the point where you’re hankering for a ‘proper’ just to liven things up. Beautifully crafted, yet slightly dull.

They’re calling this new Liars’ album the most immediate and listener-friendly of their career. Which, if you know anything about the band, means absolutely nothing, because, as in all things – especially deliberately abstract garage art funk rock – it’s all subjective and shifting shades of grey. Liars are terrified of the easy path; they launched aggressive no-wave vamps in the mid-2000s only to follow with disquieting ambient drones before leapfrogging back to neo-funk, all the while burying melodies beneath walls of noise. Not everything worked but Drums Not Dead remains brilliant art rock.

WIXIW eschews most things organic and stakes its claims on the electronic think banks of drifting synths, faraway vocals and monotone, anaesthetic drum beats. The obvious touchstone is Radiohead’s Kid A but Liars aren’t as portentous so don’t expect anti-capitalist doom or post-millennial tension; this is more personal and vocalist Angus Andrews sounds more confused than agitated: “I wish you would come back to me,” he pleads on the percolating title track.

Whilst not as immediate as suggested, WIXIW takes time to ingratiate itself but when it does it’s glacial, unhinging and beautifully simple, yet not afraid to ramp up the skronk (Flood to Flood) or galloping electro-pop (No. 1 Against The Rush). Probably years ahead of its time, for the here and now it’s equal to the band’s best and one of the most compelling, consistent albums of the year.

While these days they occupy separate cities – Jay Annabel living in Canberra while Brad Stafford resides in Sydney – space-rock/shoegaze duo The Longest Day have built up a steady back catalogue of material, punctuated by the occasional live show. This fourth album, Beyond Your Skies, their first since 2008’s Night Falls, represents something of a big step forward for the duo, and clearly illustrates just how far they’ve come since their early laptop and drone-based days. From the very outset it’s their biggest-sounding collection to date, with the increased emphasis on lyrics and discernible vocals revealing a pop heart drawing equally from the likes of MBV, Codeine and Flying Saucer Attack. It’s also a song cycle that makes most sense when listened to right through, with almost all of the duo’s facets covered here. If opener Sleep In Silence evokes Swervedriver’s shoegaze crawl as jagged noisy guitars arc against delayed-out vocals and clattering tribal drums, The Tempest offers up almost the polar opposite as gossamerthin layers of guitar harmonics trail out against melancholic cello and viola arrangements (courtesy of Fourplay’s Peter and Tim Hollo). Elsewhere, All Is Quiet offers up this collection’s centerpiece, with a ten-minute wander through oceanic guitars and gentle vocal harmonies that’s easily the most dreamlike and lulling moment here.

Haunting and epic stuff as well as a quantum step forward for The Longest Day.

After signaling their intention to cease recording full-length albums back in 2009, this ninth album, Choice Of Weapon, sees heavy rock veterans The Cult soldiering on. 30 years in, they have joined forces in the studio with QOTSA’s Chris Goss and the much-maligned Bob Rock, responsible for some of the band’s biggest moments.

chris downton

justin hook

chris downton

It’s telling that the one album where Ian Astbury and Co. ventured into more contemporary styles (1995’s self-titled effort) received the most uneven reception from their fanbase. It’s for perhaps this reason that the ten tracks collected here see The Cult focusing on what they do best – delivering meaty rock hooks welded to some of the most unselfconscious cock rock vocals you’re likely to hear. It’s been interesting to see this sort of approach cycle in and out of trend while The Cult have more or less stayed the same, and given the number of latter day acolytes (The Darkness, Steel Panther) it’s actually pretty refreshing to hear the original article. The Wolf sees them more or less directly rewiring Fire Woman’s DNA for a thundering stadium-ready flameout, while first single Honey From A Knife swaggers with a QOTSA-meets-Primal Scream tribal drum shuffle as Billy Duffy’s guitar solos reach for the sky. There’s also the obligatory ‘lighters aloft’ song in the form of OTT weepy ballad Life > Death. Those fearing clichés need not apply. dan bigna

43

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

I love the Oscars season – all those films with grand, sweeping cinematography about existential, metaphysical crises (The Tree of Life and Melancholia, I’m looking at you), or kitchensink dramas about skinny girls who used to suffer from drug addiction but are getting their lives back together – but I equally love the blockbuster (and that means ‘comic-book adaptation’) season. This week, The Amazing SpiderMan. Next week, The Dark Knight Rises. I’m already excited about The Avengers sequel. Don’t try to tell me you’re not excited, too.

quote of the issue Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield): Ahem, you know, if you’re going to steal cars, don’t dress like a car thief.

Car Thief: You a cop?

Peter Parker: You seriously think I’m a cop? In a skintight red and blue suit?

The Amazing Spider-Man

44

the amazing spider-man I will admit that even after seeing The Amazing SpiderMan, I’m not entirely convinced that another Spider-Man trilogy needed to be confirmed as little as 10 years after Tobey Maguire first graced our screens in the iconic red-and-blue bodysuit.

But despite the occasional feeling of déjà vu I experienced while watching the film – and in some instances the feeling of ‘Oh, they have so obviously tried to do exactly the opposite in this scene, of what they did last time’, which was equally galling - I can’t say that I wish they hadn’t made this new adaptation. After all, any cinematic endeavor that brings together Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone so that they feature on the very same piece of celluloid is fine by me.

Directed by the appropriatelynamed Marc Webb, The Amazing Spider-Man reinvents our erstwhile geek-turnedsuperhero as an emo-geek-chicturned-superhero, with Andrew Garfield taking over the spider strings. They delve deeper into Peter Parker’s troubled past, which makes his character more believable than in the previous incarnation; and Garfield does brooding teenager well, pulling off excessive sarcasm and bad posture while still retaining his boyish good looks. Emma Stone is captivating as always, despite lacking red hair in her role as the blonde Gwen Stacy, and Rhys Ifans is a sympathetic villain.

hysteria

ted

For a film that is about the invention of the vibrator, Hysteria is strangely wholesome. Based on ‘true events’ – with undoubtedly numerous liberties taken, pun intended, to make the whole affair more fun – the film follows Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy), a progressive doctor who has been kicked out of every hospital that he has worked in because he believes in the existence of germs.

Finally, he gains employment with a specialist doctor who treats women with ‘hysteria’ – the only cure for which is sexual gratification. But Granville’s hand begins to tire and rather than following the example of the French, he invents an electronic device that does the job five times as well. That’s right. A man called Mortimer Granville invents the vibrator.

Ted delivers exactly what it promises in the trailer – crude jokes and obvious laughs.

Director/writer/actor Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy) does his usual thing here, except this time Peter Griffin plays a teddy bear.

Hysteria is actually very amusing – at least, the women in the screening I attended were laughing out loud, even if their husbands seemed to find it less hilarious – and although it follows a fairly clunky rom-com formula, there is still room for genuine wit. The period sets and costumes are delightful, which render even the ongoing jokes about ‘whether this newfangled device the telephone will catch on’ tolerable.

This remake is entirely unnecessary, but it’s still good.

Although calling it ‘amazing’ would be pushing it.

It’s puerile and all-too-obvious at times – both in terms of thinly-veiled vagina jokes and formulaic plot – but the ribbing of Victorian views about sexuality and gender is welcome. It’s not very titillating – but it is good, clean fun.

Melissa wellham

melissa wellham

The formula here is a familiar one – young boy (Mark Wahlberg) has a teddy bear that comes to life; boy grows up (or does he?) and finds an amazing woman (Mila Kunis); he somehow falls out with both his too-good-to-be-true girlfriend and bad influence best friend/ bear; and finally has to repair his life, now in shambles. There are some blinding metaphors here (about sorting your shit out etc.) but Wahlberg is convincing as an aimless drifter (although as if a bong-smoking salesman would have those abs!) and it’s all in good fun.

However, attempts at sentimentality grate rather than engage, and there are a couple of jokes that don’t quite hit the mark. It’s likely that this film will annoy as many people as it delights. Things get a bit too farcical around the middle portion (and vaguely racist – apparently some things are a lot easier to get away with in animation), but it’s about a talking teddy bear that is somehow able to have sex – you’d be a fool to walk into this expecting anything to make too much sense.

There are some unexpected cameos and solid laughs, but steer clear if you don’t enjoy the MacFarlene oeuvre.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

the word on dvds

cinema verite [Warner Home Video]

justified - season 1 [Universal/Sony]

the killing - season 2 [Madman]

In 1973 the US public broadcaster PBS screened a 12-part series (An American Family) tracking the everyday lives of an ordinary American family. They weren’t famous, tremendously rich, nor representative of anything other than sheer suburban ordinariness. Widely considered to be the first reality TV show, it was as controversial then as Lara Bingle’s claims to legitimacy are today. America was shocked that intimate details of other people’s lives were turned into TV fodder.

An American Family was a reminder of the debasement of society. Never mind that Richard Nixon was being impeached in the background and the country was ablaze with anti-war protests. No, the appropriately named ‘loud family’ was the real cause of social chaos and upheaval.

After one of the most memorable and arresting pilots in a long time, Justified fell sharply and heavily. The promise of a simple story unfolding slowly, drawing in nuance and layers with multi-episode character and plot arcs quickly became a pro-forma crime-of-the-week cop show. It was devastating.

Especially when such talented actors (Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant and The Shield’s Walton Goggins) were given such great dialogue courtesy of Elmore Leonard, creator and co-producer of the show.

Olyphant’s serpentine Raylan Givens is a trigger-happy US Marshal, who in the first five minutes of the opening episode plays out a well-mannered old school showdown on top of a Miami hotel. With the crim dead, Givens is disciplined and reassigned to his hometown in rural Kentucky where he confronts old foes, his estranged father, ex-wife, hardcore racist rednecks and your standard rollcall of small town hoods and gangsters.

Givens navigates these divergent paths with a seething smile. The character is magnetic and Olyphant’s portrayal of him is a study of restrained anger; a steam valve ready to pop.

Hindsight is a cruel mistress.

What once was the best thing ever often turns into a reminder of youthful indiscretion and immaturity – tattoos, for example. The second season of this Danish crime drama/thriller certainly led to a few quizzical glances backwards.

Cinema Verite is the story behind the making of the doco and offers a contested view of how it all went down. Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) pitches his idea of cameras in the home capturing every moment to PBS executives who are less than impressed.

Especially so when the early footage reveals little more than a family doing family stuff. But it turned out the Loud family had much more to offer. Bill (Tom Robbins) was a womaniser who left his dutiful wife Pat (Diane Lane) at home to ponder a life not lived. During the course of the original series the real life couple argued, snarked, battled and eventually divorced ‘live’ in front of millions of viewers. Now that’s how you do reality TV. The executives liked that much more. Cinema Verite is a revealing look at the chicanery and manipulation of America’s first reality TV family.

They suffered but they fought back, on talk shows and in the media. The Loud family learnt that the best defence is offence – in more ways than one.

JUSTIn HOOK

Justified makes sense when it slows down and pieces together the larger narrative.

It’s in the back half of this debut season that every failure is rectified and Givens’ family background comes into play. Animosity between the Givens and Crowder clans is decades old and when it is carefully woven into the fabric of the show, everything feels resuscitated and reenergised.

This first season is by no means perfect (moving production from verdant Pennsylvania to dry SoCal is obvious and disappointing) and the starrating above shouldn’t be construed as such, but Justified bounced back in style. It’s one of the decade’s best.

JUSTIFIED HOOK

The first season felt complete and near perfect; an engrossing dissection of the impacts of crime across communities and families. Despite 20 hour-long episodes it never dragged, in spite of glacial and very deliberate pacing. This season is only half the length but feels twice as long.

It starts with the discovery of a body at a war memorial but our sensible-sweatered hero Sarah Lund (Sofie Grabol) is nowhere to be found. Her headstrong ways didn’t sit well with the brass and she’s off monitoring the border or something. Of course in no time she’s back on short-term loan that is nothing but, annoying colleagues, family and her superiors.

And herein lies the problem; it feels like we have been here before. Lund pays no attention to authority, her game is disobeying the rules and piecing evidence together when logic suggests she’s way off base and no one will stand in her way.

Isn’t this all very Cop Drama 101? Was she like this in the first series and was it that obvious? Yes, and yes. It’s just more evident now, especially as the plot engine (one death that spirals into plenty more – drawing in the military, Islamic terrorists, shady politicians and dishonoured soldiers) feels hacky and rote.

Nevertheless, Grabol’s insouciant charm saves the day and the slow reveal in the second half is a decent pay-off.

But somehow it doesn’t seem enough anymore. That’s the problem when bars are set high.

JUSTIN HØØK

45

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

The Walking Dead (Part Two) Platform: PS3, Xbox, PC, Mac Developer: Telltale Games Length: 2-3hrs Verdict: Worth playing During the week, Kirkman finally released the 100th issue of The Walking Dead, featuring the kinds of full-on content that sticks in your head for days after (for better or worse).

Simultaneously, the second instalment of The Walking Dead game also stumbled its way out of the door. While there’s no doubt that Kirkman is currently working himself to the bone, luckily it seems that Telltale Games have also been hard at it.

In almost all ways this second instalment fairs better than its predecessor. From a technical standpoint, all the stuttering issues that undermined the intense moments in the first part are gone.

Given the technical simplicity of the game, I’m reluctant to praise it too much for ‘working’, but still, I guess it shows the developers are committed to delivering a compelling experience. Given there are still three parts to come, it bodes well for the series.

The gameplay seems to have found a good groove. Obviously it’s still rocking the same point-and-click style gameplay as before. On this second occasion, though, I found myself playing through the whole thing in a single three-hour sitting.

Notably, the storytelling is far more compelling. A level of interest and intrigue is nicely maintained throughout the game, keeping you interested to see what happens next. That said, the gameplay is still pretty slow paced. The character interactions, which make up a good part of the game, can feel a bit slow. Some will no doubt find this boring, but given it’s a zombie game it does well to develop the characters and draw out the tension – each being key threads in the zombie bow. Unlike before, the game avoids hitting any dead spots.

Whereas the previous game waited for the action to come to you, the direction in this game is much clearer. While the puzzles are still a little frustrating (at least when the tool tips are off) it avoids driving you to those moments of despair where suddenly Google seems like an option.

It’s also worth noting the decisions featured in the game, what with the series being built around this mechanic. The choices on this occasion are more abrupt and confrontational, with the same being said for rest of the game. This helps make the game feel more like a Walking Dead entity. But for the lack of Rick, this game does well to capture the appeal of the graphic novels. So here’s hoping the game series can keep it up for the next three chapters. torben sko

46

Come Friday July 27, there’ll only be one show in town. A little sporting event on a little island in the North Sea has wrapped the telly schedule in patriotism, scaring big ticket shows like Downtown Abbey (Prime, Sun Jul 22, 7:30pm), Revenge (Prime, Mon Jul 23, 8:30pm) and Episodes (WIN, Tue Jul 24, 9:30pm) into wrapping up next week. Masterchef (SCTEN, Wed Jul 25, 7:30pm) and Australia’s Got Talent (Prime, Wed Jul 25, 7:30pm) even reveal their winners the same night to defy the sudden ratings drop that comes with being pitted against Olympic Games 2012 coverage.

For some reason it seems we’d prefer to watch skeet shooting if it comes with the Olympic rings. And that’s the point – there’s something for everyone. If the celebrity of the Australian swim team makes you see red, take Blackbox’s lead and seek out the weird and wonderful. Find out why people put themselves through a pentathlon, whether all fencers are private school boys and how synchronised swimmers stop water from going up their noses. And to satisfy Chez Blackbox’s penchant for kitsch, the biggest ticket in town is the 2012 London Olympic Opening Ceremony (WIN, GEM Sat Jul 28, 6:30pm). Lucky for us the live coverage starts during primetime but the finals will be in the wee hours.

Outside the wall-to-wall WIN coverage there’s a host of Olympicsrelated programming such as Gruen Sweat (ABC1, Wed Jul 25, 8:30pm), scheduled for the four weeks of the Olympics advertising bonanza, Absolutely Fabulous (ABC1, Thu Jul 26, 8pm), which sees Eddy and Pats gate-crash The Olympics, and Dateline: Olympics Special (SBS1, Tue Jul 24, 9:30pm) for an inside look at the corporate organisation of the Games. Of course the Closing Ceremony heralds the floodgates to a raft of new shows (and gives the host broadcaster, WIN, a corner on the promos). You can expect to see Boardwalk Empire (SBS), Smash (Prime) a US musical drama about a Broadway musical based on Marilyn Monroe, Puberty Blues (SC10) an Aussie series based on the infamous ‘70s novel, Underbelly: Badness (WIN), The Chasers’ The Unbelievable Truth (Prime), I Will Survive (SCTEN), essentially a drag queen talent quest (although it’s not quite being billed that way), Big Brother (WIN), and Howzat! The Kerry Packer Story (WIN).

In the meantime there’s Fresh Meat (ELEVEN, Tues, 9:30pm), the (very) bad remake of Melrose Place (ELEVEN, Sat, 5pm), and cute but ugly Wilfred (ELEVEN, Tue, 9:30pm). For the really ugly there’s The Shire (SCTEN, Mon, 8pm) and for some culture there’s Australia’s answer to Grand Designs, Dream Build (ABC1, Sun 22 Jul, 8:15pm). Game Of Thrones fans should check out the Australian Centre for the Moving Image’s Live In The Studio forum (Thu Jul 26, 7pm) at www.acmi.net.au.

New shows heading for US schedules in the coming months include Last Resort, a drama about the crew of a nuclear sub who go rogue and set up their own country, Elementary, the US reimaging of Sherlock Holmes (with Lucy Lui as Watson), Vegas, a period mobster drama set in the ‘60s, and Dallas, which is set for the Nine network here later this year. Final news is that the sixth and final season of Gossip Girl started filming in New York last week. It’s slated to air in the US in October.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyherrernan@bigpond.com @ChezBlackbox

the word

Fun Machine, Trendoid & Alphabet, The Brass Knuckle Brass Band, Vulpes Vulpes The White Eagle Polish Club Friday July 6

on gigs

The White Eagle Polish Club in Turner has hosted quite a few Fun Machine gigs in the last year or so. Having not been to one in a while, there was something even more outstanding than usual in their performance on Friday night.

Dishevelled golden drapes framed the onslaught of talent that sequined the stage that evening. The roof sported various coloured Chinese lanterns, giving light to the hall, which gradually began to fill not just with friends and fans, but with, of course, the Polish Club’s famous Polish beers. (People will curse me for not remembering the name of said beer, I know.)

If you were one of the lucky ones who were invited to the gig on Facebook, you’ll know it was supported by the growing Canberra Musicians Club, and that it also had one of the most endearing descriptions for an event I’ve seen in a while. Addressed to ‘you’ and graced with an ‘al dente’ line-up, the menu was as follows: Vulpes Vulpes for the hors d’oeuvres, The Brass Knuckle Band as entrée, then of course Fun Machine for the main course. And dessert? Trendoid and Alphabet. Bon appetit, indeed, Fun Machine.

All in all it was a charming ensemble of song and dance, each band accompanying one another effortlessly, fashioning a delicious feast of Canberra’s finest local musicians.

Bec Taylor, Chris Endrey and Ramsay Nuthall – aka Count Rackula, Dr Roktopus Rex and Eugene McHandsome (in which order, I profess, I’m actually not sure) – dressed as expected yet somehow still exceeded expectations. In short, their attire glittered and glowed alongside their warrior face paint, which seemed befitting for the launch of their latest single, Ready For The Fight. In one of their bios online you’ll find their chosen genre is ‘coloured tinfoil pop-punk that sticks like cellophane’. I can’t help but align that sentiment to the dress code of the evening. Visualising those words into costumes will suffice and probably better any description I can attempt to formulate.

Of course, I’m leaving out some of the newer additions to the band – and what incredible additions they are! With six kids on stage, it was just the sight one needs to see on a cold, wet Friday night when you’re down and out and need the pick-me-up you’ve heard Fun Machine can provide. I say that because if you haven’t heard of Fun Machine and you’ve been living in Canberra for more than a week, then I encourage thou to get out more.

Now I can’t decide whether the chant intro to Ready For The Fight is eerie or inspiring – either way, it’s damn catchy. The single itself is a redemptive anthem, especially when we trek towards the middle frontier of the song, which meets a beautiful piano crescendo with Taylor’s balletic voice, which succeeded in hypnotizing the crowd into an eclectic frenzy of excitement and, as I said, a bizarre feeling of deserved redemption.

In writing this I reflected on the first time I heard about Fun Machine. They were friends with my sister and she invited me to a gig of theirs in Sydney. I imagined a sunny day on the green, balloons somewhere perhaps, fairy floss too – just a lot of things ‘fun’ in the vicinity to which they would play. photos by adam thomas

Although this image may not be spot on, fun is the ultimate vibe that defines them and their performances; the ultimate romance between a band and one single word.

SINEAD O’CONNELL

47

the word

Assidian’s Second Birthday The Basement Saturday July 7

on gigs

It was a night of grand scale as punters from all walks of metal assembled to celebrate Assidian’s sophomore stomp in the Australian industry. A night like this had been a long time coming and was duly delivered as the Assidian legion took to the stage.

The night opened with the latest signing to the Assidian label, Melbourne-based melodic death-metal act Hours In Exile – only their second live performance since forming and celebrating alongside Assidian at their first Canberra show. The doors opened early as crowd enthusiasm grew and the band had a room fully focused from the get-go. It was a ferocious set from start to finish as the vocals illuminated and entertained throughout. Expect big things from Hours In Exile in the near future. The Seer received an overwhelming response next. The floor packed in during the performance and held momentum with punters. The band took advantage of their grasp on the crowd and interacted with them barbarically. A highlight for many was a cover of By Your Bedside

by Vehemence with guest vocals from Benny G of Elysian. The Seer band members also expressed how at home they felt with the Canberra crowd, looking forward to returning.

The popular topic of conversation for the entire evening was that of the monster behind the drum kit, Nathan Atkin, from Canberra’s own Mytile Vey Lorth. The technique exercised from this fleshmade machine was undeniable. The Assidian wildcard was precise, intimidating and not of this world. The band stood strong and empowered the crowd with anthemic chants from their extremely blackened realm.

The night was running flawlessly as Anno Domini took to the stage – an indulgence for me, as I had seen the boys only 24 hours earlier alongside Goatwhore.

Tonight, however, the boys had the advantage of the superior talents of Metalworx mastermind Kurt Neist to supply a superior and perfected sound. Conversing with vocalist Kieran Helmore the night before, I was informed that Anno Domini would be attempting ‘something that had never been done’ and, as it began, I was not expecting to drop my ale as they began Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse by Norwegian giants Dimmu Borgir. The execution was faultless and as the moshpit punters’ eyes grew wider, their stomps and fists merciless, the pit became almost perilous. For such an ambitious song, massive kudos goes to Anno Domini for its undertaking; it will not be soon forgotten. Overall, Anno Domini provided a pristine set to a beyond-ruthless and strident crowd that soaked up every second of these mythic bestiaries.

But such mythical creatures tend to fall into certain earthly categories. Elysian, on the other hand, have no category and are far from nature; a new breed of melodic proportion created by the human imagination.

A perfect fusion of quality and virtuosity, they whet the appetite of the lubricated crowds, even up to the point of the very cheesy but unique rendition of Happy Birthday, during which we all found ourselves doing our best Sebastian Bach impressions. The crowds were embodiments of insatiable greed, eating up Elysian through to the wee hours of the morning. photos by reckless

The benevolent nurturer of heroes, Assidian, gave the crowds an ominous legion of metal and, succeeding the inevitable hangovers, crowds will be ready and waiting for the third birthday bash in 2013.

CARRIE GIBSON

48

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE July 18 - July 21 WEDnesday July 18 Arts Exhibition Opening Smoke + Mirrors

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding.

6pm. Free.

ANCA GALLERY

Exhibition - Rings

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter, Holding Light, Advertising Emotion. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - unDisclosed

Visit www.nga.gov.au for details.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Little Big Shots – Next Big Thing (u/c15+) 1pm. All tickets $5.

ARC CINEMA

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Dance Latino Wednesdays $4 wine. 9pm. Free.

MONKEY BAR

Karaoke Wednesday Karaoke Sing your ugly heart out.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Live Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit!

Poetry slam. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Kym Campbell

A cross between Colbie Caillat and Jack Johnson. 7:30pm. $5.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFE

Sing For Your Supper

Singers, poets, musicians! Feeling hungry? Book your slot for a free meal!

(02) 6230 2484. 6:30pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors ANCA GALLERY

Exhibition - Rings

Arts

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

Exhibition Opening Tracking Patterns

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

MONKEY BAR

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Cairo 678

Part of the Arab Film Festival.

Info/tickets through nfsa.gov.au/ arabfilmfestival.com.au. 2pm.

ARC CINEMA

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunters (1970, u/c18+)

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

Workshop - Bridges & Islands Designing Stencils. Ages 12+. With internationally known graff artist Mini Graff. 1pm-4pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Workshop - Inky Stories

Ages 5-12. With Antonia Aitken.

10am–12pm. Information/enrolment: info@belconnenartscentre.com.au BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

saturday July 21 Arts Tower Of London (1939, G)

4:30pm.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

ARC CINEMA

A Colt Is My Passport & Branded To Kill

Winter Of Our Dreams (1982, M) 2pm.

ARC CINEMA

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Exhibition - unDisclosed

A Colt Is My Passport/Branded To Kill (R18+)

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

ARC CINEMA

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

ARC CINEMA

Visit www.nga.gov.au for details.

Nikkatsu classic. 7pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Little Big Shots – Best of the Fest (u/c15+)

Little Big Shots – Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding.

11am-5pm. Free.

ARC CINEMA

ARC CINEMA

1pm. All tickets $5.

(u/c15+). 10am. All tickets $5.

Comedy

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Steady Eddy

Part of Greenfaces. www. canberraticketing.com.au or (02) 62752700. Seen on NRL Footy Show.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Dance

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - unDisclosed

2nd national Indigenous art triennial.

Visit www.nga.gov.au for details.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Trash Thursday

Live

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Digress Dual Friday

$3 drinks 10pm-midnight!

Thursday Ladies Night

Free champagne for ladies til 11pm + iconic tunes by ladies all night from female DJ Pumpin DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

8pm. $10/$15 with EP. TRANSIT BAR

Timber

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

David Christopher

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB THE CLUBHOUSE

Arts

Exhibition - Rings

Something Different

ARC CINEMA

7pm.

Transit Trivia

Thursday July 19

ANCA GALLERY

9pm.

(u/c18+). 7pm.

Open Decks

TRANSIT BAR

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding.

11am-5pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Flex your noggin. Table bookings essential! 7:30pm. Free.

With Timmy Trumpet. 9pm.

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

Agency Dub Collective

Ages 5-12. With Barb McGann.

10am–12pm. Information/enrolment: info@belconnenartscentre.com.au

Ministry Of Sound Sessions Nine Tour Colombian Independence Day Party

Karaoke

Workshop - Doodling with Paper

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Live

THE DURHAM

Killing the Sound

Jacklyn Peters. 6pm. Free.

Something Different From 10pm.

friday July 20

11am-5pm. Free.

All genres welcome. 9pm.

The Toot Toot Toots

Onomatopoeic live music. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Something Different Workshop - Cool and Colourful T-shirts Ages 5-12. With Kate Ward.

10am–12pm. Information/enrolment: info@belconnenartscentre.com.au

Funk/live 6-8pm (Happy Hr 5-7pm).

Resident DJ + more play allsorts 9:30pm on. $8 J/bombs 10-11pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Cheese/Retro

Cheesy cheesy cheesy retro badness.

8pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Ced Nada

ANCA GALLERY

Exhibition - Rings

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Tower Of London (G) 4:30pm.

ARC CINEMA

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

6.30pm-10pm.

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Ladyhawke

Exhibition - unDisclosed

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Chad Croker

OJO CAFE AND BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Supported by All The Colours. Tix $46.05 + bf through Ticketek. 8pm.

2nd national Indigenous art triennial.

Visit www.nga.gov.au for details.

Alex Smoke

Chico And Rita (2010, u/c18+)

With Hum&Haw (Soma Records, UK).

9pm. $15.

THE CLUBHOUSE

Wayne Ryder Trio Live music.

CASINO CANBERRA

Abby Dobson

8pm. $20 in store or www. paperbacksessions.com.au.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE BOOKSHOP

7:30pm.

ARC CINEMA

Dance Old Skool Saturdays

Mix of Old Skool R‘n’B, 80s & 90s.

Free entry. $5 vodka original & flavours 10-11pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

49

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE July 21 - July 26 GOD + pool (no water)

Live

Live

Love Saturdays

Matt Dent

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

With Ashley Feraude. 9pm.

Bare + Big Chocolate

With Swiss Dub, Logic, Transforma, Nay Nay. 9pm.

THE CLUBHOUSE

Frenzal Rhomb

With I Exist and Super Best Friends. Tix $25 (+bf) through Moshtix.

Live music. 1pm.

Renee Geyer

The most soulful of white women returns to Canberra. $125 with dinner.

Doors at 6pm. (02) 62302905.

THE ABBEY

Sunday Best at A Bite To Eat

Oscar

David Christopher - interstate guitarist.

Tapas from 5pm. Happy Hr pre-6pm.

5pm-7pm. Free.

The Underground Project

Irish Jam Session

THE BASEMENT

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

40 DJs, four stages, secret venue revealed 24 hrs before take-off. 9pm6am. $25 + bf thru Moshtix.

SECRET LOCATION

Leading Edge Live music.

CASINO CANBERRA

Princi

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Traditional Irish music.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Dayvid Thomas (USA)

Urban Playground Presents. 10pm.

MONKEY BAR

Music Comma Coffee

Bass, violin, looped vocals or something similar. 10am-11am.

THE DUXTON

monday July 23 Arts Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Computer & Electronics Fair

Bargains and rock bottom prices. $3/ kids free.

OLD BUS DEPOT MARKETS

Sunday July 22 Arts Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - unDisclosed

Visit www.nga.gov.au for details.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding. 11am5pm. Free.

ANCA GALLERY

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Mojito Monday

$10 Mojito’s, $7 Nojitos. The best latin DJ’s & Music in Canberra. $7 entry w. free drink.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

The Bootleg Sessions

Zoopagoo, The Bus Vipers, Lavers, David Knight. 8pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Biscuits

Post-weekend sounds from Ryz, Peekz, Kimosabi, Steve On Weekends! Free pool, 2-4-1 pizza, 9pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Down By Law (1986, M) 4:30pm.

ARC CINEMA

Season Of The Sun (1956, u/c18+) 2pm.

ARC CINEMA

50

Karaoke Love

Croon and wail your heart out on the Transit stage. 9pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Something Different $100 cocktail party as first prize.

7:30pm. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

The Phoenix Quiz

Every week a special Phoenix brand trivia. 7:30pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

WEDnesday July 25

10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

From 10pm.

THE DURHAM

Transit Trivia

Flex your noggin. Table bookings essential! 7:30pm. Free.

thursday July 26 Arts GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Arts Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

11am-5pm. Free.

ANCA GALLERY

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

HONKYTONKS

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

THE PHOENIX PUB

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Arts

Live music. 9pm.

Traditional Irish music.

Trivia at King O’Malley’s

tuesday July 24

Aleks and the Ramps

TRANSIT BAR

Wednesdays at the Wall

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Karaoke

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Singers, poets, musicians! Feeling hungry? Book your slot for a free meal!

(02) 6230 2484. 6:30pm.

Karaoke

Something Different Monday night trivia. Be in it to win a $100 bar tab.

Sing For Your Supper

Something Different

Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

Live

Live

CORROBOREE PARK HALL

Trivia Tuesday

Something Different

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Dance where no one’s watching.

7:30pm-9pm. $5.

Irish Jam Session

Live music from 3pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Designing Stencils. Ages 12+. With internationally known graff artist Mini Graff. 1pm-4pm.

No Lights No Lycra

Sunday Sessions at The Duxton

MOCAN & GREEN GROUT

Workshop - Bridges & Islands

Dance

Live

Smitty and B. Goode THE PHOENIX PUB

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Something Different

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

With Tom Woodward. 9:30pm.

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

Steady Bumpin and Free Radicals clothing label launch.

Exhibition - Rings

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Dance Latino Wednesdays $4 wine. 9pm. Free.

MONKEY BAR

Karaoke Wednesday Karaoke Sing your ugly heart out.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Rings

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding. 11am5pm. Free.

ANCA GALLERY

Comedy Trevor Marmalade

Part of Greenfaces. www. canberraticketing.com.au or (02) 62752700. Seen on AFL Footy Show.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Dance Trash Thursday

$3 drinks 10pm-midnight!

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Thursday Ladies Night

Free champagne for ladies til 11pm + iconic tunes by ladies all night from female DJ Pumpin DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Live Charles and Dave

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Jay Hoad

Live music. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Faux Real

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE July 26 - July 28 Cat Cat

Live

ANUSA Bush Week NYE party

TRANSIT BAR

DJ Kronic

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Melbourne indie rockers. 8pm. $5.

friday July 27 Arts Exhibition - Tracking Patterns

Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

Bomb Squad. With Offtapia, Naynay, Everset, Chromatic, Eldred. $10 before 10pm.

TRINITY BAR

Obsessions

Local rock powerhouse. 8:30pm til late.

THE CHISHOLM TAVERN

Digress Dual Friday

Funk/live 6-8pm (Happy Hr 5-7pm).

Resident DJ + more play allsorts 9:30pm on. $8 J/bombs 10-11pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Leisa Keen Trio

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Live music.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Russell Vincent

CASINO CANBERRA

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

6.30pm-10pm.

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Tim Freedman’s Fireside Chat

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Rings

OJO CAFE AND BAR

Sebastian McFox

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

He may not even play piano. And the fire probably won’t be real. With Bernie Hayes. 8pm.

THE STREET THEATRE

Top Shelf

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Peruvian Independence Day Party 9pm.

MONKEY BAR

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

Doorly

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

THE CLUBHOUSE

BILK GALLERY

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding. 11am5pm. Free.

ANCA GALLERY

Feel The Noize Presents.

Matt Dent

With Anti-Heros. 9pm.

Mitch

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding.

11am-5pm. Free.

Spruce Moose

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

A dynamic 4-piece band fronted by singer/guitarist/all round good guy Mr Mark Thompson.

WALSHS HOTEL

saturday July 28 Arts GOD + pool (no water)

Two comedies, one by Woody Allen, the other by Mark Ravenhill. Tix through Canberra Theatre Centre.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Dance Old Skool Saturdays

Mix of Old Skool R‘n’B, 80s & 90s.

Free entry. $5 vodka original & flavours 10-11pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Live Abstraktions 2

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Love Saturdays

THE STREET THEATRE

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

With Chris Fraser. 9pm.

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

THE PHOENIX PUB

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Yoko Oh No

With Excitebike, Last. 9:30pm. Free.

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

The Ruby Revue

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

THE ABBEY

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Burlesque. 6:30pm. $45 show/$100 dinner + more.

Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

DJs Karma, Jswiss, Hypnotic

Exhibition - Rings

Hard hitting stoner bands with a side of Detroit tang. 9pm. $10.

Nite Society

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

TRANSIT BAR

Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

ARC CINEMA

4:30pm.

Live music. 8pm.

8pm.

ANCA GALLERY

hellosQuare and The Street Presents.

Featuring Té and Pimmon. 8pm. $10 online/door.

The Island Earth (PG)

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

P J O’REILLY’S (CIVIC)

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

BILK GALLERY

Urban Playground Presents. 10pm.

MONKEY BAR

400KW, The Skronks, Hang Dai AD THE BASEMENT

51

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE July 28 - August 4 The Wanninashvilles Live music.

Biscuits

God of Carnage

Killing the Sound

Post-weekend sounds from Ryz, Peekz, Kimosabi, Steve On Weekends! Free pool, 2-4-1 pizza, 9pm. Free.

Pataphysics

The Bootleg Sessions

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

THE PHOENIX PUB

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

CASINO CANBERRA KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

TRANSIT BAR

Big Bang Saturday. Soulful guerrilla hip hop and poetry slam. With BRB, Old School Al. 7:30pm.

CIT Presents. Septimus Prime, LUNG, Pretty Crane, Maggie Jeffs. 8pm. Free.

Music Comma Coffee

Something Different

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Bass, violin, looped vocals or something similar. 10am-11am.

Trivia at King O’Malley’s

Princi

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

MOCAN & GREEN GROUT

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Monday night trivia. Be in it to win a $100 bar tab.

tuesday july 31

Something Different

Written by Yasmina Reza. Book at www. trybooking.com/BQHF or at the door.

7:30pm. $5+.

ANU ARTS CENTRE

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

Live Man In The Mirror

Michael Jackson tribute show.

6:30pm/8:30pm. $25/$60 with dinner.

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB (WODEN)

Vengeance + Kyro & Bomber THE CLUBHOUSE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

friday august 3

Mon-Fri 10am-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition - Rings

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Dance

Arts Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

Latino Wednesdays

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

MONKEY BAR

God of Carnage

Computer & Electronics Fair

Arts

$4 wine. 9pm. Free.

EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Live

Book at www.trybooking.com/BQHF or at the door. 7:30pm. $5+.

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Sing For Your Supper

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Bargains and rock bottom prices. $3/kids free.

sunday July 29 Arts

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Smoke + Mirrors

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Kate Barker, Alexander Boynes, Daniel Edwards and Annika Harding.

11am-5pm. Free.

ANCA GALLERY

Exhibition - Tracking Patterns Jacklyn Peters. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok. FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Dance No Lights No Lycra

Irish Jam Session

Traditional Irish music.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Sunday Best

Jude Kohn: Gutsy soulful vocals backed up by a dirty blues guitar. 5pm. Free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Something Different Sunday Sessions at The Duxton Live music from 3pm. Free.

THE DUXTON

monday July 30 Arts Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Transit Trivia

Flex your noggin. Table bookings essential! 7:30pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

thursday august 2

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Karaoke Love

Croon and wail your heart out on the Transit stage. 9pm. Free.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

God of Carnage

Exhibition - Rings

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Live Digress Dual Friday

Funk/live 6-8pm (Happy Hr 5-7pm).

Resident DJ + more play allsorts 9:30pm on. $8 J/bombs 10-11pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Heath Cullen

Paperback Sessions. Tix through www. paperbacksessions.com.au. Supported

by Alice Cottee. 7pm. $20.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE BOOKSHOP

Rufus

With Elizabeth Rose. $15 before 10pm.

Something Different

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

THE WHITE EAGLE POLISH CLUB

Trivia Tuesday

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Traditional Irish music.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

$100 cocktail party as first prize.

7:30pm. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

The Phoenix Quiz 7:30pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

WEDnesday august 1

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Exhibition - Rings

CASINO CANBERRA

CMC Presents. With The Burley Griffin.

8pm. $15/12/10.

Matt Dent

Live music. 6pm.

MOOSEHEADS PUB AND NIGHTCLUB

Sam From Out Of Town KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Comedy

Something Different

Chris Wainhouse

Guzman y Gomez Free Burrito Day

Part of Greenfaces. www. canberraticketing.com.au or (02) 62752700. Seen on The Comedy Channel.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Trash Thursday

Live

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Live music.

Lee Coombs

BILK GALLERY

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

Annie and the Armadillos

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

52

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Bon Scotts

Irish Jam Session

ANU ARTS CENTRE

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

10am-5pm.

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Live

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

$10 Mojito’s. The best latin DJs in Canberra. $7 entry w. free drink.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

TRINITY BAR

Arts

Mojito Monday

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Written by Yasmina Reza. Book at www. trybooking.com/BQHF or at the door.

7:30pm. $5+.

TRANSIT BAR

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Arts

Karaoke

Exhibition - Word of Mouth Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Something Different

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Mon-Fri 10am-5pm.

Singers, poets, musicians! Feeling hungry? Book your slot for a free meal!

(02) 6230 2484. 6:30pm.

Dance where no one’s watching.

7:30pm-9pm. $5.

CORROBOREE PARK HALL

Live

ANU ARTS CENTRE

Dance

THE CLUBHOUSE

Free burritos. That’s all you need to know, really. But there’s cool live music too. 11am-8pm.

CANBERRA CENTRE

saturday august 4

$3 drinks 10pm-midnight!

Arts

Thursday Ladies Night

The Incredible Shrinking Man (G)

Free champagne for ladies til 11pm + iconic tunes by ladies all night.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

4:30pm.

ARC CINEMA

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE August 4 - August 9 God of Carnage (Matinee)

Written by Yasmina Reza. Book at www. trybooking.com/BQHF or at the door.

2pm. $5+.

ANU ARTS CENTRE

God of Carnage

Written by Yasmina Reza. Book at www. trybooking.com/BQHF or at the door.

7:30pm. $5+.

ANU ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Karaoke

Something Different

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Karaoke Love

Transit Trivia

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Live

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Capital Jazz Project: 21 + 75 Double Bill

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

Live

9pm. Free.

Flex your noggin. Table bookings essential! 7:30pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

TRANSIT BAR

thursday august 9 Arts

Andy Butler and Bernie McGann. 7pm.

Details/tickets through www.thestreet.org.au.

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Irish Jam Session

THE STREET THEATRE

Mon-Fri 10am-5pm.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Something Different

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Traditional Irish music.

Sunday Best

heidegger: Intelligent folk funk rockers bring a smile to your dial. 5pm. Free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Exhibition - Rings

monday august 6

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Dance Old Skool Saturdays

Mix of Old Skool R‘n’B, 80s & 90s.

Free entry. $5 vodka original & flavours 10-11pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Live

Arts

Saxophonist. Part of Capital Jazz Project. 10pm. Details/tickets through www.thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

Capital Jazz Project: Albare ITD Long Way. Part of Capital Jazz Project.

8pm. Details/tickets through www. thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

Music Comma Coffee

Bass, violin, looped vocals or something similar. 10am-11am.

MOCAN & GREEN GROUT

Sarah McLeod

$20/$65 with two course dinner.

Doors 6:30pm, dinner 7:30pm. Tickets through www.theabbey.com.au.

THE ABBEY

As Famous as the Moon Live music.

CASINO CANBERRA

Oscar

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Something Different Fash ‘n’ Treasure

A smorgasboard of kitsch old stuff! O, the smells! 10am-3pm. $3.

EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA

sunday august 5

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Free.

The Phoenix Quiz

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

BILK GALLERY

wednesday august 8

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art 10am-5pm.

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Live $10 Mojito’s, $7 Nojitos. The best latin DJ’s & Music in Canberra. $7 entry w. free drink.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Biscuits

Post-weekend sounds from Ryz, Peekz, Kimosabi, Steve On Weekends! Free pool, 2-4-1 pizza, 9pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday august 7 Arts Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok. FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Exhibition - Rings

THE PHOENIX PUB|

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Every week a special Phoenix brand trivia. 7:30pm.

Arts

Mojito Monday

Capital Jazz Project: John Mackay

$100 cocktail party as first prize.

7:30pm. Free.

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

Trivia Tuesday

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok.

Comedy

Exhibition - Three Exhibitions

Part of Greenfaces. www. canberraticketing.com.au or (02) 62752700. Seen on Good News Week.

Eddy Ifft

FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Exhibition - Rings

Dance

BILK GALLERY

Trash Thursday

Contained works by Carlier Makigawa.

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

$3 drinks 10pm-midnight!

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

10am-5pm.

Thursday Ladies Night

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Mon-Fri 10am-5pm.

Free champagne for ladies til 11pm + iconic tunes by ladies all night from female DJ Pumpin

Dance

Live

Latino Wednesdays $4 wine. 9pm. Free.

Capital Jazz Project: Charmaine Ford Trio

Live

THE STREET THEATRE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

MONKEY BAR

Sing For Your Supper

Kick ass jazz. 8:30pm. Details/tickets through www.thestreet.org.au.

Charles and Dave

Singers, poets, musicians! Feeling hungry? Book your slot for a free meal!

(02) 6230 2484. 6:30pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Stonefield and Owl Eyes Tickets through Moshtix.

ZIERHOLZ @ UC

Exhibition Opening - Three Exhibitions

Flutter - Alex Davies, Holding Light - Belinda Toll, Advertising Emotion Natalie Thomas. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE - GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition – MAY’S: The May Lane Street Art

Groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and int’l graffiti artists. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Word of Mouth

Encounters with abstract art. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-4pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

OUT

aUGUST 1

OWL EYES CONCORD DAWN MONO/POLY HUNTING GROUNDS

Arts

Dance

Exhibition - Emergent Meaning

No Lights No Lycra

bluejuice

CORROBOREE PARK HALL

...and more!

Large Abstract Acrylic Paintings by Robert Sok. FORM STUDIO & GALLERY

Dance where no one’s watching.

7:30pm-9pm. $5.

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FIRST CONTACT

SIDE A: BMA band profile

The Andy Butler Large Ensemble Where did your band name come from? The band is named in the usual (if somewhat boring!) way within the jazz realm of naming your band after yourself and the size of the group.

Group members? Piano – Andy Butler; Saxophones – John Mackey, Niels Rosendahl, Matt Handel and Tom Fell; Trumpets – Miroslav Bukovsky, Alex Raupach, Ax Long and Scott Temby; Trombones – Rob Lee, Valdis Thomann and Patrick Langdon; Tuba – Peter McGovern; Bass – Max Alduca; Drums – Mark Sutton.

Describe your sound: Modern big band jazz. Big band music doesn’t have to sound like it was written in the 1930s – not to say that music isn’t great!

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Here are a few, in no particular order: Vijay Iyer, Brad Mehldau, John Hollenbeck, Steve Newcomb, Carl Vine, Tigran Hamasyan, Radiohead and, perhaps most importantly, my friends and teachers from the ANU School of Music.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had while performing? I used to play drums in my high school jazz band. We were playing at a school gala night and a drunken teacher wrestled a stick from me and started playing the drums as well. I was hitting him with the remaining drum stick trying to get him to leave, which eventually worked but not until a few minutes had passed…pretty bizarre.

What are your plans for the future? I’m moving to Berlin towards the end of this year.

What makes you laugh? My friends! And Seinfeld…

What pisses you off? Parking inspectors.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? I think there is some genuinely interesting stuff happening. I expect the quality of local jazz and classical music to be affected very badly by the changes underway at the School of Music.

What are your upcoming gigs? The Capital Jazz Project on the Tuesday August 7, 7pm. Tickets through The Street Theatre.

Contact info: andy.butler.music@gmail.com.

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Aaron Peacey 0410 381 306 Activate Jetpack activatejetpack@hotmail.com Adam Hole 0421 023 226 Afternoon Shift 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 Capital Dub Style - Reggae/Dub Events + DJs facebook.com/CapitalDubStyle Rafa 0406 647 296 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 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 Latin-Ska-Reggae facebook.com/loschavosmusic Rafa 0406 647 296 Andy 0401 572 150 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, 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 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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