BMA Magazine 390 - 12 March 2014

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Fuelling roller derby art Sacred Lorrkkon Ceremony performed in Canberra

Your nanna could take a better selfie, she wouldn’t cut out man of the hour Jared Leto. #436MARCH12 Fax: (02) 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com

Editor Tatjana Clancy T: (02) 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com

Accounts Manager Fahim Shahnoor T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com

Big Bill Neidjie (c. 1920 – 23 May 2002) was the keeper of ancient knowledge and the last remaining Gagudju-speaking member of his Bunitj clan. He was a senior elder of Kakadu National Park and a traditional owner of the Bunitj estate in northern Kakadu. An important and greatly respected Australian, he was one of the key individuals responsible for having his land Kakadu National Park, a living cultural landscape with exceptional natural and cultural values, inscribed on the World Heritage List. To witness an event never before performed in public or outside of Kakadu, bring the family and a picnic to Reconciliation Place and enjoy an ancient aboriginal ceremony to tell the continuing story of Big Bill Neidjie, affectionally known as the Kakadu Man. Thirty singers, dancers and ceremonial elders from Arnhem land in the NT will recreate the Lorrkon Ceremony and encourage you to participate in the Bunngul ceremony. It’s on Tuesday the 25th of March between 5:307:30pm at Reconciliation Place (between Questacon and the National Portrait Gallery). Free entry. For more details visit www.aiatsis.gov.au/kakadu

When Ed Radclyffe strolled into the BMA office last week, he was wearing a cowboy hat with studs, and exuded more rock ‘n’ roll charm than was legal on a weekday afternoon.

One third of local rockabilly trio The Fuellers, Ed is also a talented visual artist with a particular fondness for designing roller derby posters.

He describes his style as ‘quick and dirty’ with his recognisable graphics promoting leagues here in Canberra, Adelaide and Austin Texas. He also commentates at roller derby bouts and should now enjoy even more popularity with the new name I have christened him with – Rad Edclyffe.

You’re welcome Ed. His exhibit Fuelling: Ed Radclyffe is running at the Canberra Museum and Gallery in the Open Collections Gallery until the 25th of May. For more info head to museumsandgalleries.act

Where am I? at a free courtyard gig!

The busy producers of the upcoming You Are Here festival must have a very dull weekend in their past that they are frantically trying to repress.

This year’s program is packed with so much arty goodness it would be terribly unreasonable of you to suggest you are bored or uninspired when the whole shebang is done. Its free events

go throughout the festival, including courtyard gigs three evenings in a row at the Gorman Arts Centre; a little green oasis in the city. Wednesday the 12th features DIY synth pop from Brisbane-based Scraps, along with Kolors, Calico Cat and projections form Zonk Vision.

Thursday it’s WA artist Maitland Schnaars and local violinist Emma Kelly and Friday features Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens, Burrows and more. For more head to agac.com.au

Cut Snake by Arthur Productions Kiki, Bob and Jumper are best mates that aspire to greatness.

Kiki is keen on doing the tango with a bearded lady on Mt Kilimanjaro, Jumper is in love with a snake called Trix whilst Bob may hold a secret to time travel (I might ask him to bring back David Tennant, you don’t need to know why). A comedy about growing up, dying young and being extraordinary no matter what, CUT SNAKE has enjoyed sell-out seasons at the Melbourne and Sydney Fringe Festivals as well as winning a swag of awards . It’s the first ACT production of the show and will be performed at the C Block Theatre at Gorman House Arts Centre. Runs from 13-14th March from 7pm (plus school matinee). Tickets $10-$20 via the Canberra Youth Theatre at cytc.net

Sub-Editor & Social Media Manager Chiara Grassia Graphic Design Chris Halloran Film Editor Melissa Wellham

This is why I declined your- barbeque invite.

NEXT ISSUE 437 OUT March 26 EDITORIAL DEADLINE March 17 ADVERTISING DEADLINE March20 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA Magazine is independently owned and published.

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

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FROM THE BOSSMAN It seems fitting that in the shadows of Canberra’s 101st birthday I recently made a shocking self discovery.

I have turned ‘Old’.

Not older, mind. But ‘Old’, with a big ol’ capital O. I hadn’t hit a particular age; it wasn’t my birthday - although that’s coming up on April 3 if you feel the undying urge to show your gratitude. Nor had I developed any new aches and pains that so become the elderly (that being said, about a year ago I started to make a queer little ‘Ooooomph-ahhh!’ noise whenever I bent down to pick something up; a noise, I’m shocked to say, that seems to be increasing in length as time goes on).

No, I’ve officially turned ‘Old’ because I have started adopting that infuriating yet strangely charming trait of most parents…

Getting the names of major things slightly wrong.

It all started some weeks ago when dining at Jamie Oliver’s French or Greek or Israelian - I forget which, I no longer possess working tastebuds so these things are trivial to me - and watching the latest triple j ‘Hottest’ 100 countdown roll in via Twitter. When The Preatures’ Is This How You Feel? came in at number 9, I lost all semblance of dignity or respect with the table assembled when - as the self-professed Bossman of an occasional music magazine - I called them The Pree-Ahh-Tures.

Oh dear, indeed.

This simple pronunciation gaff seemingly set into motion a series of aging milestones, whose only logical conclusion will someday be the comical descending of one’s trousers in public.

YOU PISSED ME OFF! Care to immortalise your hatred in print? Send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and see your malicious bile circulated to thousands. [All entries contain original spellings.]

Screw you, awesome event. Whilst I appreciate the free drinks - the most important component of an open bar is to announce the impending closing of said bar in order to ensure my friends and I reach our limit in regards to our binge drinking threshold and budgeted quota from the event we deigned to attend on a school night thus risking unmanageable hangovers mid week.

Plus the smug barkeep playing judgy mc judge judge whenever I ordered another champagne. And yes I know it’s sparkling. Like my wit. Youse pissed me off.

Fuck you, Milk In Cartons. You splash the milk everywhere except into my cup, and it pisses me off. If I have to wipe down the kitchen bench one more time because of you, I’m going to bloody well scream.

To people who don’t put any spaces when writing down their phone numer (04119988ZZ) just frickin stop it will you. Do you know how goddamn hard it is to read that shit. The space bar is your friend. Fuckin use it.

For it didn’t mark the last time I mispronounced something. I am joining the ranks of my parents and all the parents before them; soon I will be going to The Internets to look up things, using my dye-Phone to make calls and utilising Googlet to ask where I last put my belt.

And it doesn’t end there. I have also developed the disturbing trait of calling everybody ‘Champ’. In conversation, I have all good intentions of calling someone ‘mate’ or ‘buddy’ or - heaven forfend - their actual name, but as soon as I go to execute one of these harmless endearments a strange welling-up can be felt from the base of my diaphragm and before I know it my mouth erupts with a spirited ‘Champ!’ at the end of every sentence.

In email, I go to type, ‘Hey mate,’ but suddenly an invisible force will take hold of my fingers, I go into some sort of trance, and before I know it I’m hitting send on an email that starts with ‘Hey champ!’ and ends with ‘Thanks champ!’ I can only apologise for this, and hope it passes, but we all know this is just the start. Soon I will move through ‘captain’, ‘chief’, ‘colonel’ before eventually settling on ‘tiger’. Good lord, the old mechanic we went to in Kambah used to call me tiger. It’s the beginning of the end.

But I am here to say there’s nothing wrong with turning ‘Old’ and - in an attempt to ham-fistedly tie this back to the beginning so this column has at least a semblance of a point - that is no truer than to see Canberra pass another year. Getting older gives you character, every line or wrinkle is a brushstroke of a life lived.

And us, like Canberra the city, may get things slightly wrong as we age but it’s all in the pursuit of experience and betterment.

Anyway I must go; my trousers have just descended and I should stoop down to haul them back up… <Ooooooooooooooomphahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!> ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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Image credit: Image credit: Image credit: Tom Krapowsky

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WHO: YOU ARE HERE WHAT: FREE MUSIC FOR RICH KIDS WHEN: FRI MAR 14 WHERE: AINSLIE PLACE,GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE, THE MONEY BIN, THE STATION

Hold onto your pocket money, kids. The annual You Are Here festival is pulling out all the stops this year with Free Music For Rich Kids – 18 bands, four hours, four stages, all ages, entirely free. No wristbands, no long queues for overpriced meals. Carefully curated by YAH along with Cinnamon Records, Canberra Musicians Club and Subsequence radio, FMFRK boasts local favourites with a few acts from the south coast struttin’ their stuff. Catch Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens, Waterford, Sex Noises, Spartak, Burrows, Territory, Schoolgirl Report and many more! Rock up at 8pm, choose your stage. Full line-up at youareherecanberra.com.au

WHO: LUCA BRASI WHAT: ALBUM LAUNCH WHEN: FRI MARCH 14 WHERE: MAGPIES CLUB

Tasmania punk four-piece Luca Brasi are about to unleash their hotly anticipated sophomore release, By A Thread, on Poison City Records this month. They’ve been cranking out sharp-edged punk rock for the past half a decade, gaining a loyal following and solid reputation due to their consistent touring and energetic performances. Luca Brasi will be bringing their passionate noise to the capital, as part of their national album tour. They’ll be dropping by the Magpies Club in the city, bring along Postblue, Vera and Silver Lining for support. 18+ only (sorry kids!), $10 at the door.

WHO: WANDERLUST MEETS SIMON MILMAN WHAT: JAZZ WHEN: FRI MARCH 14 WHERE: THE STREET THEATRE

Australian contemporary six-piece jazz band Wanderlust have been kicking around since 1991, infusing world music influences into their original improvisations to high acclaim. They’ve teamed up with bassist, composer and fellow world music fiend Simon Milman to create Goal To Hurl, a fresh mix of improvisation,Latin and African inspired rhythms. They’ll be hitting The Street Theatre Friday March 14 to debut tunes from the new album, as well as digging up gems from Wanderlust’s back catalogue. Tickets $25 + bf and concession $20 + bf and available from The Street Theatre. 8pm start.

WHO: PALMA AND THE GOOCH PALMS WHAT: PALMARAMA TOUR WHEN: SAT MARCH 15 WHERE: TRANIST BAR

Summer may be slipping away, but Transit Bar will heat up as the Palmarama tour hits Canberra, Saturday March 15., Featuring exmembers of Red Rider, Sydney’s Palms have paired up with brash Newcastle duo The Gooch Palms who have snagged prized support slots with Thee Oh Sees, Jeff The Brotherhood and Nobunny.

Purveyors of rowdy garage rock, both bands released their debut albums last year – Palm’s Step Brothers and The Gooch Palms’ Novos’ – played the Big Day Out and contributed to the Australian remake of the stone-cold garage classic Nuggets compilation.

Support from Sweet Shoppe. 8pm start, $10 at the door.

WHO: CHRIS GUDU AND AFRO PAMOJA WHAT: ALBUM TOUR WHEN: SAT MARCH 15 WHERE: THE STREET THEATRE

Celebrating the release of their latest album, Juba Juba, Chris Gudu and Afro Pamoja are bringing their renowned passionately energetic performance to The Street Theatre stage. Their music is often classified as ‘township jive music’ –known as Umbaqanga in South Africa, infectiously upbeat and injected with afro jazz sensibilities. Growing up in a musical family, Gudu has been playing music since he was a child, singing in church choirs and making his own guitars and drums from scratch. Nab yourself a ticket from The Street Theatre; $30 + bf, concession $25 + bf. 8pm start.

WHO: PETE MURRAY WHAT: FEELER ANNIVERSARY TOUR WHEN: THURS MARCH 27 WHERE: CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

What were you doing in the summer of ‘03/’04? Did one washedout blue album cover, with a broody Pete Murray carrying his shoes, feature heavily in it? Was Feeler tucked away in your bookshelf, sprawled out on the passenger seat or pinched from your sibling’s room? To celebrate the big double digits, smooth crooner Murray, backed up by The Stonemasons, will be gracing the Canberra Theatre stage to perform the chart-topping Feeler in its entirety.

Get ready to break-up, make-up, break-up and cry all over again like it’s 2003, Tickets $45 + bf, available from the Canberra Theatre.

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DAN BIGNA Three years ago YOU ARE HERE took over an empty shop front that is now a McDonald’s restaurant in the Civic bus interchange.

There is little need to further mention the irony of an arts festival space that promoted alternative modes of creative expression now occupied by a multinational corporation, but it is nevertheless worth considering that a central theme of You Are Here is to expect the unexpected. The festival began in 2011 at the urging of Robyn Archer, whose enthusiasm for the arts in Canberra is well known. In its three years the festival has hosted many sensestimulating events which subvert a familiar theme of artist/ audience engagement with settings and intentions that make the case for the value of art beyond the mainstream.

This year YAH has adopted a former ANZ branch in the CBD as a central focal point and labelled it The Money Bin. It seems irony – all important in certain situations – has appeared once again. The festival organisers have put together a wide ranging program that includes things of note like a music event Free Music for Rich Kids featuring Canberra luminaries like Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens, Waterford and Spartak playing in various venues and spaces around Canberra City. Also worth mentioning is autumn evening bike ride, Neon Night Rider, where participants are encouraged to bring along a bike adorned “in as much illumination as you can handle.” In other words, this latter event is all about getting people out and about to show those in charge there is so much more to transportation than the standard gas guzzler. And how about the Wednesday March 19 interactive dance performance at the Canberra Museum and Gallery billed as Elevate, which will “stretch the space of social expectations”? I often want to do this very thing, as we all do in our own way.

So far so good, but how does YAH support the local arts scene?

“We’re really big on making sure that we’re supporting local artists as well as showcasing ex-Canberra artists,” Wright says. “YAH is a good opportunity to bring back people who got their artistic start in Canberra and show them what is happening here now. This festival is a good opportunity to show everyone what is happening in Canberra, to get people excited about it and also to open the audience up a bit and bring the focal point to the city. There might be a smaller audience in Canberra but that audience is also very supportive and dedicated to going to things. Once you take the opportunity to find out, you realise there are things constantly happening in Canberra.”

There might be a smaller audience in Canberra but that audience is also very dedicated to going to things

We are surrounded by quality art in this town, which explains why the YAH festival program runs 50 plus pages, a well designed enticement to the range of planned events. This makes it all the more amazing that the festival producers work from an office the size of a broom cupboard inauspiciously tucked away in Gorman House. But this is where I meet YAH producer Vanessa Wright, who graduated from the ANU with the right stuff in art history and curatorship.

“The original intention was to showcase what was already happening in Canberra particularly for emerging artists and the underground scene,” Wright says. “And Robyn Archer wanted to showcase that – an arts festival that utilised vacant shopfronts in the city. This was a centenary project and the intention was to use the hype around that to get things started that would continue into the future. The original producers of the festival set it up in such a way that it would keep going.”

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Wright mentions that both ArtsACT and Canberra CBD Limited have been supportive of the festival – as they should, because isn’t the whole idea to bring vitality and colour to the city centre which all Canberrans recognise is much needed? A number of key city venues have also come on board including Smiths Alternative, the Phoenix and Canberra Museum and Gallery.

“When we first started no one really knew how it was going to go or how the reaction would be or if there was an audience for it, but after the first couple of years YAH proved there definitely was,” Wright says.

“And in 2013 our audience numbers were really high for the centenary year so from our point of view it was really successful.”

Big ticks for momentum and enthusiasm. And because I am a music fan of the discerning kind, it was good to hear Wright explain that the Free Music for Rich Kids event mentioned earlier will cause me none of the grief that usually comes with larger scale music festivals. “The idea is not having to pay hundreds of dollars to see a bunch of bands,” Wright says. “All of the gigs will be free on that night and it is about getting around all those hassles at a live music event – so no queues, no crappy food, you can go where you want and eat what you want. It’s very open, so it should it be a good night for making local talent as accessible as possible.”

This all sounds very appealing and it would seem that YAH has an assured future so long as its aesthetic intent is preserved. I get the impression from talking to Wright that the festival is in good hands.

“This festival is about trying to get audiences involved with art, “she says. “It’s not something that’s meant to be intimidating or scary. It’s supposed to be easy, accessible and fun. Something that should be serious but also fun as well.”

You Are Here festival runs from Thu–Sun March 13–23 in various venues around the city. Majority of the events are free and all ages.

For full details and program, hit up youareherecanberra.com.au

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LOCALITY

We’re almost at the point in the year where Canberra’s weather starts to turn, resulting in plenty of punters beginning to start their social hibernation, but let me tell you, the colder months can actually be the best time of year to catch some live music. When the air turns chilly, your favourite venues are less likely to be full of fair-weather friends, leaving you with less chances of having your view blocked by an unfortunately placed tall person or stuck next to that moron who thinks gigs are the perfect time for a chat.

The sharp wind means you’re less likely to step out for a smoke, so you’re more likely to catch the start of that set you’ve been waiting for all week. And because there are less people filling the floor, you’ll have plenty of room to move, which means that with the right local tunes, you’ll be warm and toasty in no time. One of the easiest ways to get your local music fix over the next few weeks is via the You Are Here festival. Free Music For Rich Kids will be hitting stages right across Civic and Ainslie on Friday March 14, with sets from a whole stack of local artists including Sex Noises, Burrows, Waterford, Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens, Spindrift Saga and heaps more. Their Lunchtime Listening program is also full of familiar local faces, like Matty Ellis, Tom Woodward, Marianne Scholem, all set up in The Money Bin, just up from Smoque and Cube. But the most exciting event in the You Are Here calendar has to be The Night Fort on Saturday March 15 from 9pm. It’s a great big sleepover with music from Finnegan and Brother, Ben Swift, Future Conduits, Fossil Rabbit and Calico Cat, Reuben Ingall and A GODDAMN BLANKET FORT. If you’re not excited about that, then I’m afraid we can’t be friends.

If you want the full low-down, head to youareherecanberra.com and take a squiz at the full program. If the autumn weather is already getting you down and you’re feeling an urge to escape to a tropical retreat, you should definitely book yourself a ticket to Paradise Island, home of Rufino and the Coconuts, who are bringing their “beach party for the land-locked” to The RUC Turner (formerly the Turner Bowling Club) on Saturday March 22. For no more than $20, you’ll get a bit of voodoo magic, see some amazing Gilligan’s Island-style costumes, be treated to a special guest appearance from Mikelangelo and get the chance to snap up some bangin’ threads from April’s Caravan. And you won’t even have to pack a suitcase! Best tropical island holiday ever.Finally, it’s always a joy to hear about new records from local musos and the new release from Wanderlust and Simon Milman is set to be an absolute corker. Mixing up improvisational jazz, Latin and African rhythms, this collaboration offers a classy yet cheeky sound that wiggles its way into your hips and makes you wish you had taken up Latin dance lessons. Reina De La Pileta will be launched at The Street Theatre on Friday March 14 from 8pm, with tickets set at $25. So don’t let the change in seasons keep you from missing some fantastic local sets and releases over the next few weeks!

NONI DOLL nonidjdoll@gmail.com @NoniDoll

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CODY ATKINSON Once proliferate in the community, the record/CD shop may slowly be becoming a dying species. Say it ain’t so! Cody Atkinson looks at some of factors involved.

Name? The record shop (that also sells CDs, cassettes, band shirts et al).

Age? About 120 years old.

Locations? Unfortunately decreasing, but in most cities around the country and the world.

What’s happening to them? In a couple of words, they’re closing and merging. Perhaps not as fast as the now-humble video shop, but much faster than they should be.

Yeah, I heard about that one closing down in Melbourne the other day. Yeah, Polyester CBD shut down the other day, joining Missing Link and Collectors Corner as Melbourne stores to cut back in recent years.

I feel there’s a ‘but’ coming here... But buying directly from artists, i.e. via Bandcamp, will almost always put more money in a band’s back pocket and help them fund making and recording more music. There are also complications around the areas of record stores owning indie labels that put out music, so that overall sales of the entire store fund the progress of specific bands.

Ah, I feel you’ve gone off the deep end here. Yeah. This was meant to be about record stores...

But what’s so special about the record store anyway? What? How dare you? I thought we got each other...I need a second here...

Sorry...It’s my fault, I shouldn’t get so worked up over these things.

Are you alright? Yeah, yeah. Where was I?

It is, to quote The Castle, “the vibe of the thing”

What’s it like elsewhere? Patchy at best. In Brisbane Kill The Music and Skinny’s have shut down in the past few years, and iconic store Rocking Horse nearly joined them. And in Sydney, Red Eye Records has downsized to just one store, amongst others. And there has been a vast reduction in the number of “bigger chains”, such as HMV and Brashs, in recent years.

So why is it all happening? Broadly speaking? It’s the shift in the consumption of music and the decline in physical music sales.

No-one buys music anymore? Not so much that, but more the way that they buy and listen to music.

Ah yes, the whole “online” thing. Yeah, the online “thing”.

From iTunes, to Rdio, Spotify and Beats Music, to Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Etsy pages, there are plenty of options to listen to music without leaving the house and your handy internet connection.

But surely someone loses out in that transition? Kind of.

When compared with traditional CD and vinyl sales, artists make a lot less money from streaming and digital song sales. Royalty rates for Spotify for independent bands and labels has been reported to be around $0.005 (USD) a play (source: Damon Krukowski – Pitchfork [http://pitchfork.com/ features/articles/8993-the-cloud/]). Or, in real terms, nothing.

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So what’s great about a record store (even if it only sells CDs) these days? It’s the intangibles. It is, to quote The Castle, “the vibe of the thing”.

But if there’s easier ways to buy music...Yeah...

And often cheaper ways...Yeah...

Why bother with the record store? It’s the experience. It’s the off-handed and unsolicited recommendations from staff members, who often play in bands stocked by the store.

It’s the ability to tangibly hold the product for which you are about to hand over your hard earned and evaluate its true worth. It’s really hard to translate that experience to an online environment.

The visceral experience of the search for the perfect album isn’t an easy one to give up for those who grew up saving their pocket money for a LP or CD. So it’s just a vehicle for personal experiences? It’s not just that.

Independent record stores also provide support to local, emerging and independent artists, whether via in store recommendations or providing a spot for in-store shows and signings.

And as mentioned above, a bunch of record stores around the country have in the past and in some cases still, run boutique labels for bands they like.

Final question. Will records stores be around in the future? I reckon so. I am pretty biased though. I can’t say that they will be around forever, but they currently serve an important purpose. Perhaps they will diversify more and become more experimental in form. And perhaps they will shrink to just being a small aisle in Kmarts across the nation.

But I hope not. I really really hope not. Keep buying music people.

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PHOTO BY STEVE NEBAUER/A BEAR IMAGE

MORE LIOR RORY MCCARTNEY Singer-songwriter Lior Attar (known universally as Lior) has had a good ride with ARIA nominations, platinum sales of his debut album and he’s even provided a song for a kids TV show. A man of diverse talent, he co-created the vocal-orchestral work Compassion, based on ancient Hebrew and Arabic poems. Now, four years after his last LP, Lior has released his fourth album Scattered Reflections. While the title track relates to travel, the album is less about travel and more inspired by it. “It’s an eclectic album, about memories and personal reflections, all tied together by a thread of nostalgia. I place a heavy importance on lyrics and it is a diary to my life,” says Lior.

The album brings a new sound to Lior’s material. Half the album has the lyrical acoustic work Lior is known for, with half done with the new band – notably guitarist Cameron Deyell who brings a fresh vibe to it with his guitar style. “Opening the arrangements up to the band helped shape the album,” Lior says. “Plus I have two drummers playing on the album together, so there’s a deep multi-layered percussive texture. They will be included in major city shows and there’s a beautiful synergy watching them play together.” Lior has a ready answer when asked about his favourite album track. “There’s a song about my Grandfather who fled Poland and survived the War as a sniper in the Russian Army. The song gets its poignancy for me because it’s a direct link to my survival and my generation is around today directly because of these miraculous survival stories.”

More than ever now, music is about community

The album was financed through PledgeMusic, an online funding campaign. Lior was encouraged to try it after Ian Ball from Gomez told him how he financed his solo effort through this means. Lior was amazed by the strong response. “You can use it as a forum to get in touch with your audience. More than ever now, music is about community.” Some contributors ended up with treats such as handwritten lyrics, Skype performances in their lounge room or a Lior signature on their guitar. “People were writing back and thanking me for letting them get involved,” he adds.

Lior’s involvement in children’s TV show Giggle and Hoot came about during his Shadows and Light tour, in which he interacted with artists doing shadow stories behind him as he performed. “One of the producers of the TV show approached me before the show went to air and asked if I was interested in doing the closing song. I thought it would be fun and the show went on to be one of the biggest things in the ABC. It’s beautiful, the number of kids that come up to me and sing the words.” In case you were wondering, ‘Lullaby’ from Giggle and Hoot is not in the set list.

Lior, with support from Gerard Masters, appears at The Street Theatre on 22 March. Tickets are $44+ bf presale through The Street Theatre, or $51 at the door].

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RORY MCCARTNEY It’s not every day you find a property developer putting on a free art festival. Last year the Molonglo Group (the mob behind New Acton) presented Art Not Apart – a fascinating mix of dance, music and artists creating new works throughout New Acton. This year it’s on again, bigger and better. BMA spoke to event producer David Caffery and Chloe Mandryk, curator of the festival and the Nishi Gallery displays, to get the lowdown on the extravaganza.

“The festival is about the presentation of quality art in a unique environment, to mirror the ACT art scene,” says Caffery. “There’s an emphasis on site specificity, with things being specific to the site and context to bring out the potential meaning in the art.

It’s important to put an emphasis on local art to show to wider audiences what’s happening in the Canberra art scene.” Mandryk electorates: “These are works which respond to their environment, or have a kind of connection such as an installation about mazes and roundabouts in Canberra. We have an artist who will talk to audiences oneon-one about isolation and loneliness, before taking them to a balcony and putting their mobile phone in an inflatable parachute.”

The main stage will see the band Pop present ‘re-appropriated’ pop music, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Joe Oppenheimer’s Introduction to Electronic Acoustic Fusion Music, Dylan Hekimian’s (best live performer at the 2013 MAMAs) EP launch, CJ Bowerbird’s poetry and Julian Fleetwood’s play Art in Moderation. All this will be MC’d by BMA’s own Allan Sko. Video will be big this year. “A huge number of submissions requested projectors for visual art, a reflection of where Canberra’s art scene is going,” says Caffery. As Mandryk explains, “James Wright will be curating video art for the Kendall Lane Theatre. There will be live coding, with Beats From Bits (featuring Ben Swift and BMA contributor Torben Sko) on laptops, instructing the computer to generate sounds.” There will also be video art in the basement of A Baker, with an underground DJ there at night. Apart from the daytime festival, there’s the Sound and Fury after-party MC’d by Nicola Gunn. Caffery states, “It’s about presenting the night time of the arts, the sinister performances that don’t work so well during the day. Curated by Little Dove, it will include eight dancers as whirling dervishes, lots of projections and visual work.”

We have an artist who will put your mobile phone in an inflatable parachute

This year, the coordinators have sought to increase the quality of the presentations and scope of the festival.

Rather than growing the event in terms of number of artists, they are focusing inwards on artist development. 2014 sees more space available and more opportunities for installations and media pieces that go across the festival area instead of just one zone.

Most of the 200 artists were recruited via word of mouth (or email).

The majority are from the ACT, with a mix of returning artists and first timers. Besides Molonglo, artsACT have come onboard, making more funds available to performance or presentations. “It funds materials too, so artists can realise their dreams,” adds Caffery. The idea of what artists might attempt evolved during the ‘recruitment’ process. As Mandryk explains, “They may have been a collage artist or just planned to build a terrarium or sell their work.

However, some will expand their plans to run workshops or give talks.” Visitors will be exposed to painters and sculptors creating new works as they watch.

There’s a lot going on. Synergy Percussion, one of the nation’s foremost percussion ensembles, will do a tribal heartbeat for the event. As Caffery explains, “This will use the primal feeling of a drum to resonate through the festival, amplified through café speakers across the precinct.” Six Women Standing in Front of a White Wall (an installation which appeared at Canberra Fringe years ago) will be back. There will be one-on-one poetry performances and one-on-one dances entitled Admit One. (No, it’s not a lap dance. They considered holding this event in hotel rooms, but the vibes were too seedy).

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A standout feature of this year will be the outdoor two story scaffold creation, which will serve as the platform for performers and the centerpiece of the festival street party. It promises to be spectacular.

“Clad in vinyl and ply board, this multi-unit structure will have street art presentations beneath and DJs on top,” says Caffery.

You can get personally involved in the one-on-one shows or other activities. Mandryk amplifies, “There is a terrarium workshop and a sound installation with a series of tiles sensitive to touch, where people can make their own music with organic sounds in a domestic setting.” There will be creative spaces where punters can make structures from recycled material and an area where kids can make stuff. Of course food is a major feature, with handmade ice-cream and popcorn (from Palace Cinema), Nepalese curry from The Hungry Buddha, fresh juice from Juice and Vibes, street food stalls and all the New Acton businesses. You can buy stuff too, although it’s not the main aim. “We downplay the sales component as we are not a fete or market. However, people selling art were successful and one of our biggest limitations last year was the lack of ATMs. It was a good sign that the artists were making money,” Caffery explains.

So come along to be surprised, challenged and entertained in a space outside your everyday world.

Art Not Apart will be held in the New Acton precinct on Saturday March 15, with the Festival on 1 to 7pm and Sound and Fury running from 7pm to late. It’s all free. Check newacton.com.au/ana for full event details.

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DANCE THE DROP The seven deadly sins of dance music are inherently identical to those ticked off by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in 1995’s ‘best gory thriller starring Kevin Spacey with his fingerprints sliced off’, Se7en. The seven deadly sins of dance music are a septuplet of don’ts which the entire scene is built around. If you do not respect them you may be banished to spend the rest of your weekends in a dingy RnB club wearing a Tarocash dress shirt and Rivers slip-on canvas dress shoes. Listen very carefully, as the following words could very well save your social life: Wrath – This one is simple. Don’t be a dickhead. Angry people don’t belong in clubs. They belong at bus interchanges where they can be secretly filmed by strangers and mocked in YouTube comments.

Greed – Don’t make a little shuffle circle of your drunk friends at the front of a packed dance floor, don’t scalp tickets, don’t fill up the cheap guest list with people who ‘might come’ and don’t make music you don’t love just to get famous.

Sloth – You complain that your hometown ‘never gets the good acts’ but when something exceptional does show up you sit at home on the couch and swallow pizza shapes. Go and support the scene, you fat bastard.

Pride – Bulking for Stereosonic, brah? Police sniffer dogs should be trained to sniff out hubris and shrivelled testicles. Shirts on please, gentlemen.

Lust – Don’t get too wrapped up in any one thing. The musical universe is vast and you are a wise cracking George Clooney strapped to a jetpack.

Envy – Coveting the success of others will get you about as far as punching Barack Obama in the junk. Success isn’t given; it’s earned, sometimes through hard work and perseverance, other times because everyone else in front of you falls over and you skate past their superior bodies.

Gluttony – You aren’t 18 anymore.

Waking up wearing your toilet as a helmet isn’t cool, it’s tragic. Know your drinking limits and only exceed them by roughly double.

Fans of mind boggling progressive house music will already be aware that dance floor Deity Nick Warren is returning to Canberra in April.

Warren is the king of uplifting journeys and you can catch him, Peekz, Fourthstate and yours truly at Academy on Friday April 11.

Exciting! Australia’s most infamous and deborturous projectionist, Jim Medcraft stopped by this week with some wise words about his chosen field of excellence. “What is VJing? There are so many different approaches and techniques used but I guess the core task is to make visuals to music. Some people use computer generated content, some people use samples mixed together,” says Medcraft. “The earliest VJ’s were people such as Andy Warhol who used to use multiple projectors and loops of film projected over bands. In the modern world, we mainly use VJing software to control and manipulate video live. These days there are VJs at most big festivals and club nights, but we are also seeing a rise of audio visual acts that produce both live music and visuals together. VJ’s jam with the music so we have to immerse ourselves into the tone and feeling of the song – this then helps the larger audience with their musical interpretation and experience.

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

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Territory, Yard Duty, Spartak and TV Colours’ Bobby Kill. The best part – it’s absolutely free! Friday March 14 will also see Tasmania’s Luca Brasi stopping by the Magpies Club on their By A Thread tour.

They will be supported by Post Blue, Veara and Silver Lining. Entry will be $10 on the door.

Happy March! It is now Autumn, which come to think of it, is a great season for punk. Everything is dying (including The Phoenix, ba-dum-I’m-gonna-pay-for-that-one) and the air feels just a little bit more angsty. Plus the leaves are beautif-…I mean ugly, weak and crumbly…just like the establishment. Anyway, if you don’t believe me, just have a look at all the amazing gigs coming our way.

Just as a quick side note, due to the Sydney Building fire, The Phoenix is temporarily out of order (see tasteless joke above), which complicates things a bit. Many of the shows currently scheduled at the pub will undoubtedly go unplayed, but many have been successfully moved to other venues, so pay attention!

If you’re reading this in time, you can catch Melbourne’s ska/punk party band The Bennies on Thursday March 13. The show will be taking place at the Magpies Club instead of The Phoenix. However it will still include kickass sets from The Bennies, fellow Melbournians Apart From This and Goulburn’s Rather Be Dead.

Cinnamon Records’ stage as part of You Are Here’s Free Music for Rich Kids festival was also originally planned at The Phoenix on Friday March 14. This show will instead be taking place at The Money Bin at Petrie Plaza and will still feature an extensive lineup of Cinnamon’s diverse roster: Primary Colours, Orlando Furious,

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On Saturday March 15, The Basement will host a show by the Garbage Face Music band collective. The show will include sets from Sydney bands KANG, Steel City Rugrats and The Acid Monkeys along with Canberra’s own No Assumption.

Sydney’s Ted Danson With Wolves will be stopping by the Magpies Club on Friday March 28 in promotion of their newly released debut album WWTDWWD? They will be joined on the night by South Australia’s Wounded Pig and locals Blight Worms, Lung and Lost Coast. This one will also be $10 on the door and kiddies note that it will be all ages.

Sunday April 6 will see RVIVR, from Olympia, Washington hitting up the Magpies Club. They will be joined by Canine, from Sydney, and locals Sex Noises and Swoon Queen. This show will also be all ages and will cost you $15 on the door.

That’s so many shows that I’m actually running out of word count. I almost don’t have enough room to remind you to tune into Haircuts & T-shirts every Monday night from 9:30-11 on 2XX FM. Never mind, I managed.

Anyway, thanks for reading. And in all seriousness, I would like to wish The Phoenix the most sincere “get well soon” that a man can possibly muster.

IAN McCARTHY

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tour with A Million Dead Birds Laughing, Eternal Rest and the ever present King Parrot and the Bald Faced Stag in Sydney – Thursday May 8 is the closest date for Canberra fans.

METALISE With the dust of Soundwave settling for another year, you can wash off Tony Abbott’s (fake) blood and take stock of what’s coming up for the rest of the year.

There’s a big double CD launch for locals Aeon of Horus and Inhuman Remnants at the Basement on Saturday March29. I bumped into the Inhuman Remnants lads in the dark alleyway behind the Basement a couple of weeks back and they slipped me the new disc and it’s a monster that stripped the lining from inside my car on the way home. Looking forward to the new Aeon record too, so chuck this date up on the fridge calendar for the local lads.

Other big tour news last week included the loooooooooong overdue announcement that welcomes Britain’s Anathema to Australia for the first time in their 25 years together as a band. They’ve undertaken a long musical journey from their early days as a doom metal band into one of the world’s most respected prog-metal acts.

They’re coming in August for three dates and The Metro in Sydney is the closest on Friday August 22. Your tickets can be purchased through metropolistouring.com Those hankering for their Viking metal can be satiated in April with Gloryhammner and special guests Largerstein hitting the country for 13 shows and we’re getting ours on Sunday April 13 at the Basement. If your band wants the support, get in touch with kegstandaus@gmail.com and make your case!

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

While on the Basement, gigs for the next fortnight include Jericco, Escape Syndrome, Eyes To The Sky and Arcane Saints on Friday March 14, No Assumption, The Acid Monkeys, Kang and Handball Deathmatch on the Saturday March 15. The weekend of the 21st is shaping up a massive one, with the Ultimate 90’s Night on Saturday March 22 and gig of the fortnight in Canberra on Friday March 21 with Electric Eclectic Fest. The night features sandgroper’s Voyager, Troldhaugen, Toehider, Orsom Welles, Perpetual End, Knights of the Spatchcock, Eyes to the Sky and Beast Impalor for just 20 bucks.

Trawling through my podcasts in a recent trip up to the Gong to collect an exquisite arctic white Gibson Explorer, I came across Alchemist and Metal For The Brain organiser Rod Holder’s podcast Music Business Facts. If you’re a young musician, producer, promoter or interested in the industry in Australia in any capacity, you got check out the cast. Holder interviews people like luminary promoter Michael Chugg, AC/DC’s first manager Michael Browning, Angry Anderson and Resist Records’ Graham Nixon and has an always compelling chat on the industry and their experiences within it. It’s free and you should check it out.

Internationally, Morbid Angel will be back for three dates in April with the Florida legends hitting The Metro in Sydney on Thursday April 24. Origin also announced a

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E X H I B I T I O N I S T ARTS | ACT

WAR STORIES ZOE PLEASANTS From a seemingly unlikely creative collaboration between the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) comes THE LONG WAY HOME, a new play by Daniel Keene. A work of fiction, it is based on the real-life stories of Australian soldiers who have served in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor and their difficulties in returning home afterwards to ordinary life. The play features 13 of these soldiers on stage, most making their acting debut, appearing alongside four professional actors. I spoke with playwright Daniel Keene and one of the soldiers, James Duncan, about this extraordinary production.

The play has two purposes, Keene explains. It seeks to personalise the soldiers’ experiences –giving audiences an opportunity to hear firsthand what it is like for soldiers deployed overseas and it is also part of the soldiers’ rehabilitation and healing. “All of the soldiers involved have injuries of some kind, either they’re suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or have physical injuries,” Keene says.

The play was developed through a series of conversations and workshops involving Keene, Stephen Rayne, the play’s director and members of the ADF. It all started with Rayne travelling around Australia to meet and talk to service men and women who had returned from deployment. It was at one of these meetings that James Duncan first heard about the project. “I was at the Solider Recovery Centre in Darwin and the Officer in Charge at the time got a lot of the guys who were wounded in Afghanistan together and pretty well told us to go down and talk to [Rayne] and give our insights and thoughts into the play,” says Duncan.

Duncan spoke to Rayne and was happy to leave his involvement at that, but his Officer had other ideas. “She sort of pushed us and prodded us and goaded us into signing the paperwork to go down to Canberra to speak to [Rayne] a bit more. So we went down and we did the selection process but we were still sort of sitting on the fence,” says Duncan.

The soldiers selected in Canberra were then invited to join Rayne and Keene in Sydney to develop the play further. Duncan was invited – again he wasn’t sure, but his Officer was. “She gave us a prod again when we went back up to Darwin, so we went down to Sydney for the five-week long ‘how to be an actor’ workshop and more interviews to actually get the story off the ground.”

It was during these workshops that this unusual collaboration started to flourish. To begin with, “there were the army types and there were the theatre types, you know, it was this weird collision of sorts,” laughs Keene. “But once we established a conversation and relationship [the

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soldiers] were really open about what they had to say. We found a whole lot of ways of talking about their experiences and from all the material – and there was lots and lots of it, I had to find a way to turn that material into a play that was dramatically interesting,” says Keene.

Still Duncan was not sure he wanted to be involved. “It’s a very hard thing for a lot of guys to open up and we didn’t want the wrong thing, we had to be doing the right thing for us and for others, for us to put our names to it,” he explains.

In writing the play, Keene felt an enormous responsibility towards the soldiers, “I had a responsibility to be truthful … they wanted the play to be truthful and frank,” says Keene. So during the workshops, Keene showed the soldiers early drafts of what he was writing. I asked him what it was like sharing his work at such an early stage. “Completely terrifying,” he replies. “It was very exposing in a way because I was bringing in things I’d just written, that were just first drafts and asking them what they thought of them and no, I wouldn’t normally do that but, in this case it was what I had to do.” wIt was this act of trust by Keene that finally persuaded Duncan. “We were very guarded at the start and then once Dan started releasing some of his early scripts we sort of got a feeling for where it was going and how powerful the play was going to be, so that sort of pretty well sold it for us,” says Duncan.

Since having decided to participate, Duncan has seen the benefits for himself and his mates. “It gets you out of your comfort zone,” he says. “You get a bit of self-confidence that you can do stuff outside of Defence and you meet soldiers you’d never otherwise meet who are in the same sort of situation as you. You talk to them about their issues and your issues and you can relate a lot more.”

Finally, after an intense rehearsal period the play opened with much military fanfare in Sydney, last month. General Hurley, Chief of the Defence Force, whose idea this project had been in the first place, was in the audience. According to Keene ,“[Hurley] was a little bit nervous about what was going to happen because the play is certainly not an advertisement for the army or anything – it’s quite critical and funny and makes fun of certain things. But then the play started and … the response was quite overwhelming and [Hurley] was ultimately really pleased with the whole thing.” says Keene.

Catch The Long Way Home’s Canberra run at The Canberra Theatre, Wed– Sat March 19–22. Tickets start from $43 + bf; concession $35 +bf and under 27s $30 + bf and available from the canberratheatre.com.au

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In 1993, I saw Bill Hicks perform live at the Canberra Theatre. Ten months later he was dead.

Growing up in Canberra, there were a number of legendary gigs everyone pretended they were at. In 1976, AC/DC played at my school, Ginninderra High and I know blokes in their thirties who still fondly reminisce about that show.

Nirvana were at the ANU in 1992. This must have been when the refectory could hold 25,000 based on how many people I’ve heard swear they were there. And in 1996, the Phoenix bar had to put out extra chairs to accommodate the hundred million people who had a drink with Jeff Buckley after his show.

But I super-dooper, really promise when I was 14, I saw Bill Hicks do a ten minute set as part of the Canberra Comedy Summit and it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen.

I had no idea who he was. For some reason the MC didn’t say “up next, we have one of the most famous future dead legends ever!”

No, just the young man who I recognised from Hey, Hey, It’s Saturday came on (most people can’t even believe he’d been on Hey, Hey. Darrel must have been shitting himself). The set was great, but then he did one of his most famous jokes.

I won’t repeat it here because if you’re fortunate enough not to have heard it yet, I don’t want to ruin it. It was the one regarding Jesus’s opinions on crucifixes. This joke made me do something I didn’t know actually happened in real life. I actually fell into the isle laughing. I couldn’t breathe for about two minutes and almost missed the rest of his set.

And then I forgot about him. I don’t think I even caught his name.

Over the next six years I kept hearing about this legendary comedian and one day I finally got my hands on a pirated Bill Hicks VHS. When he did THAT joke my first thought was, hang on! This guy ripped that off from that other guy I saw years ago! This so called legend is a damn joke thief! It took ten minutes for the jigsaw pieces to fall into to place in my brain.

What’s my point? I spend a huge amount of my time at open mike comedy nights. The comics range from the horrifically awful to mind-meltingly brilliant. But a constant debate is does fame make people funnier? Do audiences laugh more when they know the performer already?

If an unknown Patton Oswalt got up at a local open mike, would he kill as hard as he does in front of a full house of fans? I got to see one of the most respected legendary comedians ever, perform when I had absolutely no idea who I was watching and yes, it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen. So next time you see a new comic kill, make friends with them. You never know. sam marzden - Sam Marzden is a Canberra raised, Melbourne based comedian and writer and member of the Radio Variety Hour.

Follow him @SamMarzden or like Radio Variety Hour on Facebook.

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ALL THAT FLICKERS Anne Widjaja AIn an age where you’re more likely to regularly “share” a YouTube clip on Facebook than go to the cinema with friends, the short film medium has done well not only to survive, but thrive in the digital age. In fact, shorts are an ideal form for modern media consumption and production.

Unlike their feature length counterparts, short films easily hold the ever-shrinking attention span of audiences and fit right in with the DIY ethic of today’s media makers.

When speaking to Bronwyn Kidd – director of Australia’s international short film festival FLICKERFEST about this year’s program, Kidd says she is energised by the growth of the short film medium. She talks about how short film has managed to leap off film course curriculums and inspire a whole new generation of filmmakers.

“Since I’ve been involved [with Flickerfest], I have noticed more and more people are making short films… Digital technology has made it more accessible for anyone to make films. It’s not just filmmakers with government grants and film students making short movies anymore,” says Kidd. “That process of discovery is what I’m really passionate about, seeing great performances by actors, writers, animators and watching them go on [from the festival] and have successful careers... that’s very gratifying.”

In her seventeenth year directing Flickerfest, Kidd has watched the festival grow from its humble beginnings as a local festival held at Balmain High school in 1991, into one of Australia’s most prestigious film festivals. This year, Flickerfest will tour around Australia, everywhere from Bondi Beach to Kalgoorie, until May 2014. “I guess I never thought that we’d be showing in 52 venues across Australia…it’s really exciting to see short films being embraced in regional centres and outside of capitals…and becoming Academy Accredited was a big thrill,” says Kidd.

Flickerfest gives emerging filmmakers the unique opportunity to be recognised by historic film institutions, with a range of Academy and BAFTA accredited categories. Kidd adds, “It’s important to have that international recognition that we’re attracting some of the best [short film] entrants from across around the world, entrants that could be considered for the Academy Award.”

For an island in a faraway place, Australian exports have earned a reputation for holding their own amongst the glitterati of Hollywood. Flickerfest has a solid track record for presenting films that have gone on to be nominated or win Academy Awards (such as Adam Elliot’s winning short Harvie Krumpet).

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Being deemed a highlight of the festival is not a small achievement.

Hailing from Canberra as a student of film and animation at ANU, Luca Li has earned such an accolade with his documentary short Horrie. Li explains that Horrie – a story about a heroic war dog, was inspired by a visit to Canberra’s very own Australian War Memorial.

“I love the War Memorial and [when] I went to visit I saw this interesting photo of this little dog [Horrie]…it was something that intrigued me.”

Li was unaware that his teachers secretly submitted the piece into Flickerfest once he’d handed it in as an assessment. He got a “nice surprise” when he received an email telling him that Horrie had been accepted into the festival. “We’ve now had the screening [of Horrie] and it was really well received. [Horrie] was highly commended, which was such an honour. And since then, the ABC has expressed some interest in developing it further,” Li says about his experience with presenting Horrie at Flickerfest. He adds, “My crew thought I was crazy, shooting a World War II film with a dog, but I stuck by my convictions and surprised everyone.”

Despite Canberra’s distance from cultural centres such as Sydney and Melbourne, Li says his experience working in Canberra as a freelance filmmaker was still important to his development as an artist. “I’m proud to tell people I’m from Canberra,” he says. “It’s definitely not something to be scoffed at. As a starting point for young filmmakers it’s a great way to cut your teeth.”

But Li warns that the tight knit creative community in Canberra can lead amateur filmmakers to become too insular, losing sight of the making films which are accessible to audiences beyond the local circuit. Touring festivals like Flickerfest in Canberra helps local filmmakers and audiences, “stay connected with the rest of Australia and have perspective on what else is going on,” Li remarks.

This year’s program includes a diverse range of shorts on issues as varied as The Fence, a short about the history of Australian refugee policy, to A Therapy by Roman Polanski and a short ad for Prada starring Helena Bonhem Carter. Li believes this rich variety is what sets Flickerfest apart from other popular short film festivals like Tropfest.

“While Tropfest is a night out in the park with friends, with Flickerfest you really want to capture a big emotional reaction,” says Li. “It’s not a big story about a big war, it’s just a story about loyalty…a man and his little dog. I think Horrie puts a smile on people’s faces… [and that’s why] shorts can be magical.”

Flickerfest is showing the Best Of Australian Shorts on Thursday, 20th March at Dendy Cinemas. Tickets $20, concession $16.50

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So we had to come up with ways of balancing the subcultural requirement to double strap with the greater need to survive school hours.

UNINHIBITED

Our solution was to double-strap on the way to and from school but to single-strap on school grounds. One bomber in the year above me couldn’t bring himself to single strap or to be a two strapped maverick – so he dragged his bag between classes.

Twenty-five years ago, on my first day of high school, a kid in my year turned up wearing a backpack with both straps over his shoulders.

For as long as I could remember, kids separated from apron strings wore their backpacks on one shoulder, never two.

This was all as ridiculous as us being bombers in the first place.

‘Bomber’ literally means graffiti artist, and only one guy actually spray-painted anything – at least with any regularity and skill.

Two-shouldered baggage was the equivalent of wearing socks with sandals. The sight of this kid double-strapping was shocking enough to be my only memory of that day.

The unwritten schoolyard single-strap rule was first challenged a couple of years after the image of this out-of-touch classmate took up residence in my young mind. The seminal double-strappers in Canberra were the bombers – the rap-loving white kids who were later to become better known as homies.

Unfortunately, my awareness of this comes from having been a bomber or, worse, a wannabe bomber. We bombers wore our baseball caps sitting right on top of our heads (a minimum of 3cm between ears and cap), stupidly baggy pants, Public Enemy t-shirts and Air Jordan IVs or Vs (if we mum could afford them).

And we double-strapped. We only double-strapped.

There were a handful of bombers at my school – not enough to form a double-strap posse sizable enough to avoid copping shit from those who figured we may as well be wearing skivvies.

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All we did was smoke bongs above Electric Shadows cinema, hang out in Happy Days Amusements in East Row and awkwardly stand on the dance floor of the Firehouse nightclub on underage night – booing the DJ when ‘Ice Ice Baby’ came on because Vanilla Ice was a white guy who wanted to be a black guy.

Anyway, I digress. A year or so into our problem of not being able to double-strap at school, the resurgent skaters began doublestrapping followed by their cousins, the skegs (surfies). Pockets of kids started double-strapping to school, not giving a shit what people outside their clique thought, and thus setting a wider trend.

By the time I was in Year 12, the majority of kids turning up for their first day of high school looked like the solitary kid I saw on my first day of Year 7. And about half my class were double-strapping themselves (the one shoulder rule was tattooed deeply into the psyche of the other half). A couple of years after that, kids never knew there was a one-shoulder rule in the first place.

Pete Huet petehuet@yahoo.com

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ARTISTPROFILE: Suzan Dlouhy

What do you do? I’m a fashion designer… sometimes DJ and musician.

When, how and why did you get into it? After realising that a desk job is not for me, in 2009 I decided to enrol part time in fashion design at CIT while working as a public servant. Ultimately finding out that trusting my own instinct can result in a lifestyle Who or what influences you as an artist? Making something from nothing; whether that is the transformation of materials, communities that develop of likeminded people and/or evolving perspectives of self.

Of what are you proudest so far? Making something from nothing; whether that is the transformation of materials, communities that

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develop of likeminded people and/or evolving perspectives of self.

What are your plans for the future? Refining my work so that it is a clear expression of the diversity of my identity.

What makes you laugh? 90s comedy and the You Pissed Me Off column.

What pisses you off? Intolerance.

What about the local scene would you change? Not much, Canberra has a beautiful way of encouraging people to explore what they’re into and be a part of the establishment of their relative scene. Maybe if rent was cheaper we could all do more of the creative and less of the “productive”.

Upcoming exhibitions? Pop-up shop Three Little Birds & Little Boy Blue at Hotel Hotel, New Acton, and FASHFEST 2014 30 April - 3 May. Contact Info: szn.com.au

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Regular readers will be aware that I plan to reveal some confronting, full-frontal characteristics to you all in an effort to foster greater relations between us. Newcomers may consider this approach premature and foolhardy, but my father adopted much the same tactic when courting my mother and here I am. This new policy sets out to bolster all those socially inept vagabonds tarred with social incompetence, that they may one day escape the biting cold of naked community rejection and luxuriate in the proprietary splendour of fur-lined well regard.

We begin many years past – I, a young man of intrepid nature but stark inexperience. That I was on a one-man crusade to re-establish the jodhpur at the cutting edge of fashion, worn in scandalous tandem with the cumbersome goggles of the aeronaut, tells you all you need know. Stupefied by the self-righteous pursuit of community betterment, so often the willing bedfellow of misguided youth, I found gainful employment in a local hospital wherein my role was to remove my goggles and aid in the distribution of vital communiqués to surgeons, nurses, clerics and the like.

As a small cog in a greater machine, my unenlightened mind at the time considered this a noble quest, ignorant as it was to the benefits of chronic drug abuse and the soulless pursuit of wealth. Striding around in my imprudent jodhpurs, I would often encounter delightful young ladies of chaste virtue and floor-length skirts. My own striking appearance would turn heads, though often unbeknown to me, thanks to the gathering condensation inside one’s eyewear, reaffixed in wilful rebellion. Luncheon was taken at a small cafeteria, democratically located at a crossroads of corridors forming the nexus of various medicinal departments: those of Leeching, Scurvy and General Repression.

One afternoon much like any other, I sat at this cafeteria with all and sundry, partaking of my lunch and generally keeping my thoughts to myself as I was engrossed in the latest edition of my favourite periodical of the time, The Waterloo Directory of Rascals and Reprobates. Musing as I was over a fascinating article entitled ‘Philanthropy: what’s in it for me?’, my attention was inexorably drawn to the entrance of four young nurses, each of whom seemed prettier than the last.

To my not inconsiderate embarrassment, they all sat at the adjoining table and proceeded to converse gaily on a range of subjects upon which I can only speculate. Likely to be puppy dogs, flowers and tips on a good batter recipe – one that effectively combines lightness with structural integrity, striving for the promised land of avoiding gloopiness while maintaining a baked validity.

Being a young man of little experience, particularly with the unending mystery of womankind, my usual sound grasp of reason became as secure as a harlot’s petticoat.

My natural intrigue saw this as an opportunity to add to my negligible stock of know-how through covert observation and suave detachment, but as I discretely adjusted my goggles, I could not know the embarrassment which was to follow.

To be continued… gideon foxington-smythe

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A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E

THEATRE IN REVIEW A Murder is Announced Canberra Theatre Centre Saturday February 2 Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced, newly adapted for the Australian stage following last year’s successful tour of Christie’s The Mousetrap, is filled with captivating intrigue, amusing twists and turns and an utterly outrageous foreign cook. The play, featuring Christie’s indubitably sharp elder sleuth Miss Marple, is a little slow to start. However, as is the way with almost all Christie works, it soon has the audience clandestinely muttering guesses and betting theatre Maltesers on the identity of the murderer. While the adaption’s pacing is a touch uneven initially, the cast are strong throughout. Judi Farr’s Miss Marple is an outstanding combination of modest senior and quick and clever detective the character is so loved for. Farr particularly shines during banter-filled scenes with Robert Grubb’s Inspector Craddock.

The supporting cast give polished and engaging performances, but it is Victoria Haralabidou as the eccentric and extremely flamboyant cook, Mitzi, who does not so much steal scenes as waltz in, voice blazing and arms flailing, effortlessly making off with them entirely. Like all Christie’s works, the clues to the whodunit are scattered throughout, but deciphering them correctly becomes more and more difficult as the play runs along. Undoubtedly the most satisfying moment is the ending, where the audience watches enwrapped as little tiny clues and glaringly obvious ones alike all slot into their place in the intricate mystery’s mosaic. A must-see production for both newcomers and long-time fans of the genre. indigo trail

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bit PARTS SUICIDE GIRLS WHAT: Blackheart Burlesque tour WHEN: Sun Mar 16 WHERE: ANU Bar The always provocative Suicide Girls are bringing their Blackheart Burlesque show – touted as full of tongue-in-cheek humour and raw erotic sexuality, to the ANU Bar. Suicide Girls toured Blackheart Burlesque North America for five years, achieving sold-out headlining shows as well as opening for Guns N Roses and Courtney Love and performing at music festivals across Europe. The show is back with all new performances poking fun at pop culture favourites Star Wars, Pulp Fiction, Game of Thrones, Rocky Horror Picture Show and more. 18+ only. Tickets $49 + bf, available from moshtix.

THE TIGER LILLIES WHAT: Cabaret WHEN: Tue Mar 18 WHERE: The Street Theatre Image credit: Rene Huemer

They’ve been given the thumbs up by everyone from Terry Gilliam to Marilyn Manson and now it’s your chance to catch cult favourites The Tiger Lillies as they grace the Street theatre stage with their sharp brand of punk cabaret. With a career spanning twenty years and thirty plus albums, the London-based avant-garde trio draw inspiration from Jacques Brel, gypsy music, opera and pre-war Berlin cabaret.

Their songs are laced with biting dark humour and narratively explore the seedier side of humanity. Grab your ticket ($45 + bf, $42 + bf concession) from the Street Theatre. 8pm start.

Image credit: Alexander Boynes

ALEXANDER BOYNES WHAT: Lumen exhibition WHEN: Wed Mar 19 – Sun Apr 6 WHERE: ANCA Gallery ANCA gallery’s presents local artist Alexander Boynes latest exhibition, Lumen, a multimedia installation that digs deep at the human condition.

Boynes blends video with works on aluminium to explore themes of environment, identity and society, creating art that is both thoughtprovoking and optimistic. The exhibition features collaborations with the PRAXIS Collective – consisting of Boynes, his sister dancer Laura Boynes and cellist Tristain Parr. These pieces combine performance art with audio and visual elements, including ‘Dark Matter’. The exhibition opens on Wednesday March 19, at 6pm . Runs until Sunday April 6.

Image credit: Andrew M. Lance

NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE AND PROMO WHAT: Photography exhibitions WHEN: Sat Mar 22 WHERE: National Portrait Gallery It’s that time of year again for forty five hand-plucked portraits from around the country competing for the National Photographic Portrait Prize. The exhibition presents the best of contemporary Australian photography by both professional and aspiring photographers.

Juxtaposing nicely is the glossy, upbeat PROMO: Portraits from Prime Time; featuring collaborations between eight professional photographers and TV, music and comedy staples, highlighting the working relationship between photographer and celebrity. Both exhibitions run until Monday June 9. Tickets $8/$10.

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While you’re at it, head over to massapeal.com and check out their Rhythm Roulette series interview with Damu from 2013. Check out Damu hitting the drums at Fatbeats Records while discussing classic drum breaks and how it influenced him as a musician.

THE REALNESS After the previous success of Amerigo Gazaway and the Gummy Soul crew’s amazing collaboration series (think Bizarre Tribe and Fela Soul), they have returned with their latest concoction, Yasiin Gaye. As the title may suggest, Amerigo has worked his magic on another remix project, this time fusing the works of Yassin Bey (Mos Def) and the legendary Marvin Gaye. The project was to be released like a digital cassette, with a side one mix then to be followed by a side two mix. However, the greedy record company fat cats have already got their grubby paws into the project and issued a takedown notice. Hopefully Gummy Soul is able to navigate the red tape bullshit and let this amazing project see the day of light again. Ray’s Cafe sounds like an actually cafe. In actual fact it’s the latest project from beat maker Ray West featuring Microphone master and DITC member O.C. Ray’s Cafe sets a smokey jazz cafe scene and allows O.C. the freedom to expand the boundaries of a traditional studio setting.

Timeless songs of love, lost, life and glory grace the tracks.

Cassette heads will be excited about the re-release of Redefinition Records’ beatsmith Damu The Fudgemonk’s 2010 classic album Supply for Demand. Long out of print on vinyl, Supply for Demand showcases Damu’s amazing production qualities, whilst displaying his vocal abilities on the mic. While he might not receive the best producer on the mic accolades, he definitely gets the quiet achiever award.

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Earlier in this column I mentioned one half of the famed Black Star, seems only fitting to follow up with the other half’s latest project.

Talib Kweli recently released his sixth studio album Gravitas.

Featuring guest verses from the likes of Big K.R.I.T , Raekwon, Black Thought and Rah Digga. Like previous projects, Talib has once again outsourced production duties, picking up beats from some of the best out there, including Justus League’s Khrysis, Oh No and 6th Sense.

Madlib has a tendency to create a plethora of hype around any project he undertakes, let alone individual albums with various MC’s (think Jaylib, thinking Madvillian). Unfortunately, Madlib only tends to release one album or a couple of singles and never return to that project again. I’m sure many thought the same when he teamed up with the Freddie Gibbs to release the absolute banging Thuggin EP. Gibbs and Madlib have been able to find the time to work together to drop a full LP title Pinata, due for release later this month. If you enjoyed Thuggin then expect to look forward to more of the same, Gibbs gangster verses over Madlib’s abstract beats, a formula that just seems to work.

While you are searching for the Pinata LP, why not add the Loopdigga EP to your cart. Stones Throw Records have released a 12” that combines the rare tracks from the first Lootpack album.

Consisting of Wildchild, DJ Romes and Madlib, their first album Soundpieces: Da Antidote has long been considered a hip hop classic.

BERT POLE - bertpole@hotmail.com

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the word

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Broken Age: Act 1 Platform: Android, iOS, Linux, OSX, PC, Ouya Developer: Double fine Length: 2-4hrs Verdict: Take or leave Having raised over 3 million on KickStarter, Double Fine adventures have partially delivered on their promise in the form of Broken Age: Act 1. The game is a classic point-and-click adventure. Its most notable feature is the dual storyline.

From the start you can choose to be either Vella or Shay, the latter being voiced by professional mince, Elijah Wood. At any given time, you can swap between the two. Given the game revels in making you experiment with every object/subject combination until something fits – or you realise there was another something you could click on, this swapping element helps alleviate those ‘stuck’ moments.

The game has two interesting stories pushing it along, with Vella’s tale having a Hunger Games feel to it –at least with regards to people being comfortable with public death. Shay’s tale is similarly intriguing, although it does feel a bit slow for the most part. This criticism could be leveled at the game more generally. While the art style, story and voice acting are all superb, overall the game feels a bit empty. Most of the dialog is pleasant, but forgettable. The scenery is nice, but not breathtaking. The game doesn’t do anything wrong, but there’s nothing that notable here to speak of. If you like your point and click adventures, grab it, otherwise there’s probably not enough to keep you interested. torben sko

The Wolf Among Us Platform: PC, 360, OSX, PS3, iOS, Vita Developer: Telltale Games Length: 1–2hrs Verdict: Worth grabbing Keeping with the point-and-click theme, The Wolf Among Us, is another offering from Telltale, the studio behind The Walking Dead games. Like Broken Age, the game’s most notable feature is its intriguing storyline. The game centers around Wolf, a sheriff trying to control the unruly New York district, Fable Town. Although taking the form of a man, Wolf happens to formerly be the Big Bad Wolf from the Little Red Riding Hood fable. Indeed, all the cast of characters inhabiting Fable Town are former fairy tale characters, hiding their appearance using cloaking spells known as ‘glamours’. Whilst this might sound a bit fruity, rest assured the game delves into the dark and macabre. You’ll find yourself swept up in a world of prostitution, corruption and murder investigation. All the hallmarks of what made The Walking Dead series great are here; a charismatic, broken, multi-dimensional lead, various confronting, on-the-spot decisions and an engrossing story. The Wolf Among Us is a great example of what point-and-click adventures have become. While traditionalists may say that it’s more story than game, the game remained engaging throughout in a way that Broken Age simply wasn’t. Based on the story and execution, this game is worth grabbing torben sko

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baz ruddick In January 2013, Canberra local Kyall Green tragically lost his life in a car accident. His family, shaken and distraught by the sudden nature of the accident, honoured Green’s wishes and allowed his organs to be donated. Green’s death resulted in eight organ transplants. A year has passed since the death of Green and come March, those who knew him and those who didn’t will be coming together to honour his spirit and celebrate friendship and love in a one day music and camping event.

The brainchild of Green’s friend, Ben Humphries, the inaugural GRNFST will be taking place on secluded bushland in Sutton.

With a slew of great local and interstate electronic artists, the bush land is set to come alive as a ‘community of dancers and dreamers’ take the bush and turn it into a dreamy landscape of love and community.

In addition to national artists, Humphries has relied on a solid core of Canberra musician’s to make his line-up what it is. “D’opus and Roshambo, Magnifik and Offtapia pretty much created a good scene for Canberra in the last five years playing consistent shows,” he says. “So it’s really important for us to have those guys there.

The quality of their performances is pretty outstanding!”

While the originally concept for Grnfst was all about fun, there will also be an important message behind the festival that stemmed from the passing of Green. “Before he passed he had said that he wanted to be an organ donor and then at the age of 22 when he passed he actually donated eight organs,” says Humphries.

“He helped eight people to live! So the ACT government’s Donate Life organisation are going to have a little area at the festival where you can get a bit of exposure and get some information about donating and helping save the life of someone else in the event of your own death.”

I guess I am trying to open up that bush party experience to average Joe who doesn’t go to that thing

While originally a means of which to honour the memory of Green, GRNFST was born as a means of ‘bringing people from all walks of life together’. “Even though Canberra is such a small place there are so many segregated groups, so I want to bring them all out to the bush together and create a little wonderland and have a bit of fun,” states Humphries. While a bush rave/ doof is nothing new to the ACT, Humphries wanted to make the environment more accessible to the average person by widening the genre scope of the music.

“It is kind of styled a bit like a doof, so it has that doofy vibe,” he says. “But the music’s not psych trance. It’s going to be hip-hop, house and some really nice electronica. I guess I am trying to open up that bush party experience to average Joe who doesn’t go to that thing.”

Situated on the same property as the old Summer Rhythm festival, Humphries has kept the venue close to Canberra to make it as convenient and accessible as possible. Having a site that had been already used for a festival saved Humphries a lot of work and allowed him to focus on sourcing a plethora of great artists. So who are the artists to watch out for?

Ben shares with me. “I am excited for Cosmo’s Midnight. They are an awesome new Aussie electronic duo. Linda Marigliano from Triple J will have a really cool set going on. I’m really excited for Basenji. I found him a little while ago when he had just released his first track and now that track is number five on triple j’s most played.

So he was a lucky find. I’m excited for Morri$ from the U.S. He is going to be part of a new wave of American chill trap kind of thing.”

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Humphries shares with me his dream for the space. “We want to make it just a really cool positive wonderland with lots of nice colours and a few things a bit like Dragon Dreaming.

The Tree Thuggaz are coming in to transform the place into an intimate, vibrant wonderland,” he says. “There will two stages. The outdoor stage will be lively and bubbly and the indoor one will be a bit more dark and a nice escape from the heat.

I kind of have a picture in my head of what it is going to look like but there will be a few surprises to where we lay stuff out.” In addition to live music there will be a live art battle, local garment traders, a food safari and lots of other entertainment going on.

“Kyall initiated my thought process into the festival because he was the type of the dude who was the life of the festival. At a festival he would always go out and meet like 20-30 people and bring them back to our camp. He was the guy who was reaching out to people we didn’t know.” Humphries was inspired by Green’s personality to recreate the same vibe that Green always brought to a party.

“I wanted that same vibe so I thought, why don’t we make it a yearly thing where we get all of us together – those who knew him and those who didn’t and show each other love and positive vibes.”

Says Humphries, “He is the driving force behind all this and I am sure he is watching above and making sure it all goes well.”

Grnfst is happening Saturday March 29 at Goolabri in Sutton, NSW. Featuring Cosmo’s Midnight, Morri$, Basenji, Linda Marigliano and more. Tickets $59 + bf. For tickets and full line-up, visit their website grnfst.com.au. 18+ event.

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ian McCarthy Canberra favourites FUN MACHINE have been colouring the capital for half a decade now. Seriously, when they started out fans could follow them on MySpace. Five years into their career, Fun Machine are ready to make their biggest mark yet with the release of their first feature-length album, Bodies On and a national tour to back it up.

I met up with songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Endrey, who talked about the album and the tour as well as some ideas behind the band’s presentation and philosophies.

Bodies On is the band’s biggest release to date, boasting 13 tracks, an approximate 40-minute running time and some solid production. Endrey says he’s overall relieved to have the album out. “The time that you have to spend, you know, getting things ready like artwork…booking a tour, getting publicity, all of that. It does add quite a delay to when you can release the stuff that you make. So, just really good to have the songs out there.”

One execution of that unrestricted attitude is carried out in the band’s recurring theme of nudity and the human body. ‘Naked Bodies’ is one of Bodies On’s lead singles and at one point blatantly and gleefully exclaims, “You can’t stop this naked body, I’m gonna rock this naked body!” This theme, as Endrey says, is “born from being force-fed market-driven messages of adequacy…an unfortunate by-product of a system that incentivises selling a bunch of petro-chemicals to smear on your already-beautiful face.” Why? Because, “There’s no money to be made in people accepting how they already are.”

Luckily, Fun Machine know how to fight back. In the words of Endrey –“Lead by example. Charge into the ether. It’s all free, let’s enjoy life.”

In support of Bodies On, Fun Machine have embarked on a sevenstop national tour which kicked off two weeks ago with their first ever Adelaide show at The Exeter Hotel.

Perhaps an indicator of Fun Machine’s innate ability win over crowds, Endrey claims the show as one of the band’s best ever. “I was a bit weary that maybe no one would come and it would be no good, but it was really packed and everyone was dancing. It was so good!”

We genuinely do love doing it and it genuinely is what we want to do

The album also displays a unique and far-reaching depth in Fun Machine’s song-writing, easily warranting comparisons to funk, baroque-pop, dance-punk and glam rock among dozens of other genres. “We’ve got three songwriters,” explains Endrey. “…So that’s the core of it, as we all approach things in different ways.

There’s a real range of stuff and it’s far more fun and rewarding and enjoyable.” He adds, “It might not be as accessible to the passer-by but I think it’s far more rewarding to follow an artist that does have an honest depth and range…”

Of course Canberrans are already aware of Fun Machine’s ability to put on a fun, energetic and literally colourful live show. “We’re really trying to put on unique shows,” explains Endrey. “There’s a strong element of just screaming at the things in society that are stupid and embracing the ones that are great…so that’s why bodies is like one theme throughout.”

The band’s range doesn’t raise any concerns for Endrey of any sort of misdirection either. “I think live, it’s very obvious what we’re doing. I don’t think there’s any disconnect, even though we do play exactly the same songs in exactly the same way,” he says. “I don’t think there’s anybody who would leave our set thinking ‘Oh, what are they trying to do?’ I think it’s pretty clear.”

Fun Machine’s tour will finish off on Saturday March 29 with two separate Canberra shows, one of them being a specially designated under 18’s event. Behind the decision for an all-ages show, Endrey says, “Well it sucks missing out on stuff because of an arbitrary age and there’s certainly nothing in what we do that we wouldn’t want to share with people of any age.”

Regarding their image, the band has always been conscious of presenting themselves in a glamorous and jovial fashion and Endrey makes no apologies for it. “If you’re going on stage and you’re gonna be under the lights, you’ve made the decision about what you’re wearing and what you look like…Nothing’s neutral in a performance so we’ve decided to control that and say ‘Let’s have as good of a time as we can and let’s try to shed some bad things and celebrate some good ones.’”

He’s not at all concerned about any of the bands themes being “inappropriate” for a younger crowd. “The whole idea that ‘adult’ has anything to do with how many times you’ve gone around the sun is ridiculous. We all live in the same world facing the same problems and should share what we know.” He adds, “I think people that don’t hang out with their kids naked, pretend they don’t swear or neglect to properly teach them about sex are cowards.”

Relating that to the band’s message he says, “I think that theme of doing whatever you want within the band is the core aesthetic.

It takes different forms…but it is ultimately, if you come and see us you can just tell that… We genuinely do love doing it and it genuinely is what we want to do.”

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Fun Machine will be playing two Canberra shows on Saturday March 29 at the White Eagle Polish Club. Kicks off with under 18s show at 5pm - tickets $20 + bf, $15 + bf concession and $13 +bf CMC members at trybooking. 18+ set starts at 8.30pm - tickets $25 + bf, $20 +bf concession and $18 +bf CMC members at trybooking.

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the word

on albums

album of the issue real estate atlas [domino] Arts criticism is full of ‘bests’ – each year critics rush to name best records and gigs, films and books. It’s a big part of the machine. But there’s a case to be made for ‘bests’ being replaced with ‘favourites’. Favourites tend to be less precious. They deem the stand-out qualities of peak artistic achievement less important than an ongoing relationship with the work. ‘Best’ can mean something you admire and never listen to again. Favourites endure. Real Estate would prosper from a favourites system. The New Jersey five piece offer seemingly comfortable easy-strummin’ indie guitar music which, whilst pushing no real artistic boundaries, seep into your consciousness. Their previous two records, especially 2011’s Days, became staples of the smart indie set. They don’t punch you in the face, but they do get under the skin. Atlas is no different, but it is a smidge better. It’s a late 20s/ early 30s record, full of light touches on growing older and wondering if this is all there is. It’s a journeys record in the reality but it’s never gauche. Real Estate are probably best described as both suburban and genteel and rock writers never get too excited about that combo. Where’s the danger? The edge? The proximity to lame cliché? If there’s a general criticism to be levelled at the group, it’s that their work can too often melt into the background.

This is an oversimplification. These

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songs do float by, but they’re infusing the atmosphere as they do. Real Estate peddle a soft power. You realise this when suffering withdrawals, wondering what other records are missing that Real Estate contain. That element is a mastery of atmosphere. The suburban angle is key to Real Estate’s work and more so on Atlas. They do not satirise or skewer the ’burbs as so many have done before them. What may be revolutionary about Real Estate is how comfortable they are with the frayed edges of the Prozac-belt from where they come from. The first two records could’ve been read as sets concerned with the nervous flight from the suburbs.

Atlas sees the group touring the world, bedding down new city lives and starting to feel the first pangs of yearning for a romanticised version of those places they once wanted to leave. Relationships are settling. The artifice and work of keeping up city appearances are beginning to seem a little old. It teases out the concept of settling down, judges it against the idea of movement and doesn’t state a preference for either. What permeates the record overall is a slight pang of sadness for that imagined past – knowing that the past wasn’t quite as good as it can be in memory, but still feeling a nostalgia for it nonetheless.

Standouts include ‘Had to Hear’, the peerless single ‘Talking Backwards’, the cracking ‘Crime’ and incredibly sweet ‘Primitive’. Perhaps ‘Past Lives’ is a little too simple in its lyrical execution and maybe the instrumental ‘April’s Song’ meanders, but the rest is first rate substantial yet easy listening. The finale, ‘Navigator’, slips by like a dream, leaving a tangible absence that can only be medicated by listening to it all over again. It sounds magnificent, yet so simple. Lush is the word. Guitars and keys intermingle gently with nothing extraneous. The mood is the thing, coasting along via Courtney’s smooth voice and Matt Mondanile’s licks.

Guitar bands don’t often sound this resolved, this confident in their sonic approach. There’s no need for screaming shreds and scenery-chewing fretplay.

Everything about this band is surefooted. I doubt there’ll be many records that I play more than Atlas this year. A favourite for sure.

Buried in Verona Faceless [unfd] Sydney metalcore exponents Buried in Verona don’t much care whether you like them or not. Now seven years and four ‘proper’ albums into their career, they’ve weathered a veritable tsunami of abuse from keyboard warriors the world over of a ‘not metulz’ stripe, flicking the abuse away like dandruff off a teenaged headbanger’s shoulder and getting on with the more important task of rocking the collective worlds of those who do appreciate them.

That portion of the metal community looks set to sizeably increase with the advent of Faceless.

Put simply, BIV have come up with nigh on the perfect modern hard rock/metal album, rammed full of the requisite number of electronica burps n’farts to keep the truly hip happy whilst still packing a massive punch where it really matters to appease the more traditional metal fan that might come across them as they go about their business. In ‘Illuminate’ and ‘Set Me on Fire’, they have a brace of tracks that have the melody, melodic smarts and metallic thunder to cross over to where so many metalcore bands would secretly love to be – the mainstream.

‘Set Me on Fire’ is a revelation, sitting amongst the angst and raving delirium that you’d expect from an album like this.

It absolutely radiates hope and positivity via the gift of the ringing, almost Edgelike guitars of Richie Newman and Daniel Gynn. A glorious piece of work, its grandeur amplified by the spine tingling vocal of Brett Anderson and it deserves recognition on a worldwide scale. Faceless is a rare thing in the over saturated world of metalcore – an interesting record – and it deserves your attention. scott adams

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I Break Horses Chiaroscuro [Bella Union/PIAS]

The Angels Talk The Talk [Liberation]

Kate Miller-Heidke o vertigo [Independent]

As I Break Horses, Stockholm-based indieelectronic duo Maria Linden and Frederick Balck attracted critical attention with the shoegaze-meets-synths atmosphere of their 2011 debut album, Hearts, with a subsequent US tour alongside M83 substantially widening their fanbase. While Hearts saw Balck completely responsible for lyrical material and Linden handling musical and production duties, three years on this second album Chiaroscuro sees the duo writing lyrics together for the first time.

It’s a development that could explain the shift in approach here, with bright sheeny synth-pop structures and electronics almost completely replacing the shoegaze elements that were present on Hearts.

There’s a much bigger and more confident feel to the nine tracks collected, with the title Chiaroscuro (meaning a balance of light and darkness) being particularly appropriate here. Brooding opening track ‘You Burn’ suggests La Roux or Goldfrapp’s sheeny Euro-tinged synthpop atmosphere given a darker and more sweeping bottom end. ‘Faith’ sees lithe tech-house rhythms lock into place against vaguely ravey synth stabs in a manner that’s closer to the likes of Glasser.

First up, a potted history of the band, so we can establish exactly which ‘Angels’ are being reviewed. The iconic 70s garage band, after numerous lineup changes, collapsed in 1999. Different bands with various members soon popped up to replace them; notably Doc Neeson’s Angels (with the lead singer with the beloved semi-hysterical tones) and The Angels with the Brewster brothers who supplied the band’s signature guitar sound. This album is from the second band, with Screaming Jets’ frontman Dave Gleeson calling the shots. Noting the primacy of the vocalist in any band, it was a question of whether the Brewsters could produce sufficient Angel-esque riffage to prevent the band from sounding like another Screaming Jets. Unsurprisingly, the answer is that it’s a bit of a mixed bag of both sounds. While ‘Got the Itch’ includes some titillating guitar, you can skip ahead to track four ‘Broken Windows’, a sorry tale of domestic disharmony. This highlight contains the first genuinely mud stirring riffage in the LP, spiced up with some added harmonica. Jump three places on the board to land on ‘Nations Are Falling’ with its punchy rhythm and snakebite guitars.

‘Come in Peace’ scores well in the riffage stakes but its ‘Personal Thing’ which is the big winner.

O Vertigo, the fourth studio album from Kate Miller-Heidke, marks itself as several new beginnings for the Australian songstress.

It is her first album away from previous record company Sony, her first album not co-written by husband Keir Nuttall and the first album featuring collaborations. As she mentioned in her crowd funding pitch, if you have liked her previous work, you’ll probably enjoy O Vertigo.

Elsewhere, ‘Berceuse’ gets more menacing, sending eerily pitch-shifted witch-house synths trailing against Linden’s angelic delayed-out vocal harmonies as juke snare rolls rattle restlessly against trailing minorkey pads in an offering that’s as subdued as it is spectral. Meanwhile ‘Medicine Brush’ sends things wandering out into baroquetinged synthpop as icy arpeggios wind their way against slow punching beats and an airy choir of Linden’s multi-tracked vocals in one of the more deft balancing act between dark and light shades here. While it occasionally lacks real bite, Chiaroscuro is a pretty strong second act. chris downton

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Gleeson sounds very Neeson-like and the melody is classic Angels material in the ‘Marseilles’ and ‘No Secrets’ mould. The album closes smoothly with amped-up ballad ‘No Rhyme Nor Reason’. The band includes three Brewsters, with Sam on bass and the album contains the last recorded contribution of former bassist Chris Bailey, before cancer took him. It’s not quite the enthralling Angels of old, but it delivers deeply satisfying, uncomplicated, foottapping rock RORY mccartney

Do not, however, discard O Vertigo as sameold material. Over her career, Miller-Heidke has proven to not only have elasticity regarding her vocal range, but also with her song-writing. Her new independence gives way to a confident creativity that colours the album. The use and exploration of her voice as a multi-faceted instrument is of remarkable importance, highlighting the pristine arrangements on O Vertigo. Vocals are supplely layered and manipulated on ‘Offer It Up’, dance deliciously on the sexy title track and are just plain stunning on ‘Bliss’.

Miller-Heidke’s wry humour is present throughout, especially so on the hilarious stabs of ‘Lose My Shit’ – “You look so good tonight/I just can’t catch a break.”

Theatricality is particularly noticeable on guest tracks such as the shambolic banter thrown between her and Drapht on ‘Drama’ and the sinister showdown of ‘Ghost’ with Megan Washington. The changing of sounds between songs – note the movement from melancholy piano ballad ‘What Was I To You’ to the amusing pop of ‘Jimmy’ – makes for constant appeal. Enriched with a more uplifting pathos from the dark folk of last album Nightflight, O Vertigo is a solid and captivating pop album, showing once again that Kate Miller-Heidke is unafraid of reinvention.

ANGELA CHRISTIAN-WILKES

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Cheatahs Cheatahs [Wichita/PIAS]

Nostalgia 77 A Journey Too Far [Tru Thoughts]

national multicultural festival compilation 2014 [Independent]

Back in the nineties I always used to find it funny when an older relative would point out the obvious cribbing of seventies acts that my favourite bands were pulling. But now I’ve reached the age where I’m on the opposite end of the stick, watching an assortment of fresh new bands appropriating the moves and noises that filled my uni years. Verily, everything old is new again to someone. Helmed around the song-writing core of vocalist/guitarists Nathan Hewitt and James Wignall, Londonbased indie rock quartet Cheatahs are emblematic of this. The twelve tracks collected on this debut self-titled album suggest that the real reason the new My Bloody Valentine album took so long was because Kevin Shields was secretly having J. Mascis and Thurston Moore’s babies.

If that sounds like a diss, it’s actually not meant to be. Indeed, this is easily one of the more artful and impassioned takes on Daydream Nation meets Loveless-style walls of guitar noise and dreamy vocals I’ve heard in a while. ‘Geographic’ sees shearing walls of detuned guitar noise and tight, almost sequenced-sounding drum patterns intersecting with delayed-out vocals to create a vibe that suggests MBV’s sonic attack given a slight surf-rock swing.

‘Northern Exposure’ meanwhile leans closer to one of Sonic Youth’s steamrolling flameouts, complete with laconic Thurston Moore-style vocals that’ll have you wondering if you’re accidentally listening to Goo instead. Elsewhere, ‘Mission Creep’ sees the post-4AD atmospheric crawl covered as well, dropping things down into languid slow-core guitar trails and ambient howls. Normally I’d say just go and check out the original articles, but in this case it’s the songs themselves that are rather good.

The cryptic title Nostalgia 77 is just one of the projects of the versatile UK producer, songwriter and guitarist Benedic Lamdin.

This, his fifth long player, is not what comes to mind when you think of ‘producer’. Rather than electronic samples and beats, Lamdin has assembled a seasoned group of roots musicians to create this chilled out album.

The LP continues the direction of the last Nostalgia 77 release, The Sleepwalking Society, with its blues and folk favours which rest upon a jazz underbelly. Again, Lamdin selected Josa Peit as main vocalist for the ensemble, replacing his previous practice of using many singers in an album.

That time of year when Civic is transformed into the place you always wish it was now has a soundtrack.

The flexibility of Peit’s voice is on show in the silky smooth opener ‘What Do You Know’. Equally at home in the low and high registers, she sounds like crooner Sade in the latter. The instruments take more of a back seat in ‘Crescent City’, making the qualities of her voice even more prominent.

Lamdin injects a stark contrast in the singing, allowing country singer Jeb Loy Nichols to take the lead on two tracks – the finger clicking, Gospel-flavoured ‘My Lord’ and the sax and trumpet driven ‘Don’t Run’.

Album highlight ‘Medicine Chest’ advances from a tip-toeing to a strutting rhythm, all punctuated by sharp brass. Lead single ‘An Angel With No Halo’ keeps it interesting with a dark folk vibe.

For all its polish, there is something missing from the record. A Journey Too Far is subtle, rather than bold, clever but not attention grabbing. While the style of music fits into the same broad category as The Bamboos, when it comes to the excitement factor, it is not in the same class. rory mccartney

This inaugural multiculticultural festival compilation is also a multi curated affair, with musician and event planner Rafael Florez and musician /producer Sam King handpicking and mastering the tracks and local artist Suzan Dlouhy designing the artwork to encompass this selection of grooves from the recently wrapped up event.

Local act Los Chavos are featured alongside Sol Nation, Dereb the Ambassador, Labjacd, Sol Nation, The Liberators and more.

There’s a nice flow here, with alternate moods and instrumentals to fuel your next dinner party, but a word of warning, acts like Cumbia Muffin and Madre Monte threaten to bring out the daggy dancer in the people you least expect (a strange phenomenon whereby the people who can least afford to shake their booty do so with extra vigour).

This 18 track compilation does what it says on the packet, celebrating the most successful acts of the festival by featuring Afro-Latin, Funk, Carribean and Roots.

It doesn’t therefore represent all the flavours of the event, with the deservedly popular Bollywood element that really flourished this year being the first omission to stand out for me.

Overall an enjoyable blend that captures the over indulgence and frivolity of a time that makesthe other days on the Canberra events calendar seem rather dull by comparison.

Tatjana clancy

chris downton

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@bmamag

v

singles in focus

by cody atkinson

HTRK Blue Sunshine

The Holidays Real Feel [liberation music]

Hey Geronimo Erring on the Side of Awesome [rare Finds]

The long awaited second record from Sydney band The Holidays is finally here and it feels good. Real Feel harks back to the wave of electro pop that soared over airwaves a few years ago with the likes of Miami Horror, Bag Raiders and Cut Copy amongst its waters. Though immediately pleasing as a pop record, it takes more than one listen to pull out the well-crafted complexities buried within its lush sounds.

Hey Geronimo like to ration their material out in bite size chunks, hence the release of a second EP with just four songs. Still, they were busy touring in 2013, including to a festival in India no less, so a whole album was probably a bridge too far. The guys from Brisbane did so well with their self-titled debut EP that they’ve kept that surefire formula of fun, boppy songs with singalong potential and a touch of quirkiness.

Opener ‘Lazer Gun Show’ is a fast paced indie-popper with heh-ho shout outs, an irresistibly catchy tune and lots of laser-like slashed guitars.

The Holidays have stood firmly on the roots that produced their successful debut album, Post Paradise, whilst keeping us interested by branching out from these roots with a more creative spin on their song writing. This is noticeable as ‘Long Now’ opens the album with lingering theatrics, shifting through several stylistic phases and distancing itself from a typical pop song structure. This contrasts with single ‘All Time High’ that embraces a more simplistic approach, to elevating effects.

It is easy to bulk the majority of the record as a group of upbeat, if sometimes bland, electro-pop songs, but as mentioned before, the beauty is in the details. From the bass groove of ‘Japan Window’ to the fuzzy guitar melody underlying ‘Voices Drifting’, there are intricacies galore to uncover with each new listen. The tropical taste from Post Paradise lingers on with the crisp guitar tones, perky basslines and hypnotic percussion, but Real Feel is lined with something a little bit darker. Heavily layered yet well-arranged, musicianship is strong.

Staying true to their name, The Holidays have made an album that feels like a vacation. Embrace it at surface value as a breezy listen, or peel back the layers to find greater value.

ANGELA CHRISTIAN-WILKES

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It does not have quite the audience participation credentials of ‘Why Don’t We Do Something’ but is undoubtedly a highlight track. While the band claims such renowned outfits as Weezer and The Beach Boys as influences (and Hey Geronimo records certainly swing that way), there’s a distinct touch of retro British pop to their sophomore EP. ‘The Girl Who Likes Me’, carrying the upbeat, romantic vibes of UK pop from the 60s, could be straight out of Herman’s Hermits. ‘I’ll Be There’ is an unremittingly cheerful song with clever vocal harmonies (there’s that Beach Boys influence), subtly underpinned by keys from Andrew Stone (who also doubles as band manager), as it zooms away with a squall of guitars.

The quirky quality is retained with the curiously titled, brass boosted ‘The Dan Kelly Song’. It’s in the crafting and delivery of complex, overlapping vocals from Pete Kilroy, Ross Pearson, Bill Bingley and Greg Chiapello that Hey Geronimo really stands out. This guitar driven, sawn-off EP might be immodestly titled, but it’s a winner.

RORY McCARTNEY

HTRK seemingly hate rock more and more with every passing minute. Blue Sunshine is dark and foreboding, like a nightmare vision of pop past.

Some bands blow you away with a cacophony of noise, but HTRK operate between the spaces.

When something fills the silence, it’s worth it.

Prawn Why You Always Leave A Note I’ll be honest: I originally only reviewed this for the Arrested Development reference in the title.

But this is a nice little piece of jangly no-frills indie-rock, with nicely intertwined call-and-response style vocals. It’s not going to change your life, but sometimes you don’t want that. You just want a solid song to listen to in the background with a solid TV show name check. And this song is that.

Young Widows Kerosene Girl Sometimes you get a noise rock song and can’t help but speculate that there is a good song hiding underneath; this is like that but the song isn’t hiding anywhere.

Brash and bold like a string of four letter words, there’s a decent mix of rudimentary guitar licks and noisy cock rock to keep everyone interested.

5 Seconds of Summer She Looks So Perfect Turns out that these guys are the biggest Australian band in the world right now. Stop laughing, ‘cause I’m not joking. Apparently this song is some kind of number one in 40-odd countries around the world. It’s also terrible, in the life-wasting, souldestroying type of way. Listening to it makes you think “Can’t we, as a society, do better than this?”

49

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

By the time you read this, the Oscars season will be well and truly over, so you don’t get a spoilers warning.

Matthew McConaughey was a deserving winner in the Best Actor category for his role in Dallas Buyer’s Club, as was Jared Leto for his Supporting Actor win in the same film.

Cate Blanchett, as far as I’m concerned, was always going to win Best Actress for Blue Jasmine and I was happy to see the delightful Lupito Nyong’o take home the award for Supporting Actress. Did you think the right people won?

quote of the issue “We’re headed to a place called Utopia – the poorest place in Australia. It’s the home of the first Australians.”

– John Pilger, Utopia

utopia

wadjda

the wind rises

John Pilger’s hard-hitting, harrowing new documentary doesn’t pull any punches. It’s central premise: has Australia inherited South Africa’s apartheid? An investigation into Australia’s colonial past, Utopia charts a history of oppression and dispossession of Australia’s first people – and a deeply dysfunctional relationship that continues to this day.

Wadjda is the first feature length film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and it’s the first feature length film made by a female Saudi director. It’s easy to coddle Wadjda due to the ground-breaking nature of the production within the culture of Saudi Arabia, but writer and director Haifaa AlMansour’s skill as a storyteller rises above the adversity of the project to succeed on its own merit. Wadjda (Waad Mohammed) wants a bike, but in Saudi culture girls don’t ride bikes (women aren’t allowed to do much). Wadjda’s mother (Reem Abdullah) refuses to buy a bicycle so she enters her school’s Koran recitation competition to raise the remaining funds.

The Wind Rises is allegedly going to be director Hayao Miyazaki’s last film with Studio Ghibli – and while it is no Spirited Away or indeed Ponyo, The Wind Rises is a fitting swan song for the talented filmmaker.

Pilger starts by examining the conditions in some remote Indigenous Australian communities - which in many houses don’t feature indoor bathrooms or electricity – and spokespeople from human rights organisations liken the conditions to those in refugee camps. Pilger then uses the rest of the film to explain how exactly Australia, as a nation, has justified these conditions.

The film is certainly not without its flaws. Pilger does seem to have a deep anger towards all in public office – and indeed, every public servant who just happens to live in Canberra – and in interviews with politicians he rarely allows his own questions to be answered. In response to Pilger’s preaching, politicians become surly and pugnacious and it means the conversation doesn’t really go anywhere.

Where the film is most effective, is in Pilger’s interviews with members of the Indigenous Australian community. There, the injustices are obvious. The pain obvious.

This is a powerful film about an important topic – and one that every Australian should see melissa welham

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Al-Mansour acutely captures two female experiences within the social politics of Saudi Arabia from the point of view of Wadjda and her mother. T The oppression is suffocating but Waad Mohammed imbues her character with a strong spirit that’s absolutely charming.

Reem Abdullah is loving and protective, but there is a twinge of sadness in her performance that plays to the strength of Al-Mansour’s screenplay that expertly intersects the storylines of both women.

Repetition does get the better of Wadjda and the momentum wavers as it builds to the Koran competition, but the emotional pinch gets you in the end.

Al-Mansour makes an incredible feature debut with Wadjda – don’t miss her powerful first steps into cinema. cameron williams

Jirô Horikoshi (voiced by Hideaki Anno, or Joseph Gordon-Levitt if you’re watching the dubbed version) grows up dreaming of airplanes.

His passion is aircraft and he wants nothing more than to fly and design beautiful machines that will defy gravity and take to the air. By 1927, Jiro is working as an engineer for a major Japanese company and one of the country’s most innovative designers. The plot of The Wind Rises is sparse.

The story essentially follows the development of Jiro’s career and his relationship with Naoko Satomi (voice by Miori Takimoto, or Emily Blunt) – but the plot doesn’t make up the substance of the story. What carries this film along are Jiro’s imaginative dream sequences: elaborate, beautifully animated fantasies that illustrate Jiro’s wishes and desires.

In my opinion, it’s far from Miyazaki’s best work. The animator’s best films were always fantastical – where unbelievable dreams came to life, to illustrate real world conflicts.

Here, the story soars when Jiro’s imagination is given free rein – but is almost staid at other points. Still, it’s a worthwhile watch. When it does work, it soars.

MELISSA WELHAM

@bmamag

pompeii

non-stop

Pompeii is a film about a volcano that interrupts a romance and a gladiator’s quest for the perfect set of abs. That’s about it. Director Paul W. S. Anderson delivers a schlocky blockbuster that will have you cheering for Mount Vesuvius. A slave-turned-gladiator-turnedabs with legs (Kit Harrington) finds himself in a race against time to save his true love (Emily Browning), who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator (Kiefer Sutherland).

As Mount Vesuvius erupts, the gladiator must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.

After his well-received turn in thriller Taken, playing an iron-fisted father with a dark past, Liam Neeson seems to be cashing in on his new actionman cachet (think: Battleship, The Grey, Unknown, etc etc etc) – this time appearing in Non-Stop, as an iron-fisted air marshal with a dark past. Bill Marks (Neeson) has a drinking problem, mild anger issues and a strong sense of duty. While on board a routine flight, he receives text messages from someone threatening to murder a passenger every 20 minutes if 150 million dollars isn’t transferred into a bank account.

Marks isn’t sure what to do, until a passenger mysteriously turns up dead. The plot thickens when the bank account turns out to be in Marks’ name, which throws a suspicious light onto his behaviour. From there, tempers and tensions rise and the plot really takes off (geddit?

Geddit?).

History dictates how Pompeii is going to end, it’s unavoidable.

Anderson spends a laborious amount of time establishing the relationship between Harrington and Browning to give us something to care about when it starts raining lava. The couple have the romantic heat of an iceberg that’s built on a subplot of revenge ripped straight from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. It becomes clear that the looming volcanic eruption isn’t the only disastrous thing about this movie. When Vesuvius throws its famous tantrum, the digital effects look like a million dollars in one scene and then five dollars in the next. The mass destruction is something Anderson manages to orchestrate with enough flimsy ferocity to make it mildly entertaining despite the fact that thousands of people are dying.

Pompeii is a film in search of tragedy that becomes a complete catastrophe. cameron williams

Director Jaume Collet-Serra certainly has fun playing with our suspicions – could the culprit be the shy yet shifty flight attendant? The co-pilot?

Marks’ seatmate, the alwaysin-the-background-while-shitis-going-down Jen (Julianne Moore)? While there isn’t much depth or originality here, the plot is certainly fast paced and Non-Stop is enjoyable for a plane thriller. There are some laughs and to be honest, if you looked at the poster and then bought a ticket expecting a deep, emotional, complex film, well, you’re an idiot. This is strictly popcorn territory and that is a-okay.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

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51

the word on dvds

Orphan Black – Series 1 [roadshow]

Sherlock – Series 3 [roadshow]

The Americans [fox]

Whilst walking down a train platform, Sarah (Tatiana Maslaney) sees a woman neatly packing her coat, shoes and handbag before throwing herself under an oncoming train. More terrifyingly, Sarah catches a glimpse of the woman and they look exactly the same. So she steals her dead doppelganger’s wallet and legs it. With an abusive drug dealing boyfriend on her back, Sarah assumes the identity of the dead girl (Beth, a cop) to escape her problems. Then everything starts to unravel. It’s a difficult show to review without spoiling it entirely, but in simple terms Maslaney plays the majority of the lead characters, all variations of the one person.

It’s a gutsy call and poor casting could have ruined the entire series. It takes a few episodes for the concepts in Orphan Black to gel but when they do the show kicks into successively higher gears. Eventually, all the main ‘characters’ fall into place and Maslaney takes flight as the many characters begin to interact. It’s here the show really earns it stripes by balancing the comedic – Sarah pretending to be Beth the cop under suspicion – against the dramatic – Sarah figuring out she is one of many orphans. Her initial plans for a quick escape with her foster brother (Jordan Garavis), the daughter she abandoned and a bunch of loot are sidelined as she is learns to take responsibility and do things for the greater good.

There have been few shows as reliant on the performance of its lead actor as Orphan Black; the entire thing hinges on Maslaney and the fact the show is so good is largely her doing. There’s enough creepy conspiracy and shadowy scientific experimentation to please the ’70s paranoia fan, but ultimately this is a well-scripted action drama driven by a strong female lead and an acting tourde-force in Maslaney.

The stakes before the premiere of this third season of Sherlock could not have been higher. The last time we saw Sherlock, he was falling off a building to his presumed death by suicide.

Benedict Cumberbatch had risen from floppy-haired British obsession and theatre nut to, genuine big budget movie star (Star Trek: Into Darkness).

The meme community was going into overdrive. Cultural mass was reaching peak Cumberbatch. But as with all sugar buzzes, there follows the inevitable comedown. And so we have the third season of Sherlock, the weakest so far.

Cumberbatch’s portrayal of the literary detective is consistent – bluster, dismissive, arrogant, rude, far-too-clever. But there’s enough humanity to rescue it from tedium. The second of these three episodes includes an excruciatingly long wedding speech to his only friend in the world – Dr John Watson (Martin Freeman), that skirts the edges of mawkish sentimentality and is actually quite moving. Selfabsorbed, sure, but touching as well. It’s the first time in over nine hours of Sherlock where we actually get a sense of why the two lead characters bother working together. The wedding scenes are played against the pair stumbling through old cases, but it’s a jarring tool that doesn’t quite match ambition, an accusation you could launch at all these episodes. In fact it seems like show creator Stephen Moffat (Dr Who) is actively taunting the audience to dislike the show, pushing the characters so far but not always offering sufficient balance. Sherlock’s return from the grave is one such example – playing a stereotypical French waiter and spoiling Watson’s marriage proposal to Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington, Freeman’s actual partner). It’s a selfish and unwieldy scene. A ripping third episode (‘His Last Vow’) steadies the ship but it’s too little, too late.

There are probably better shows out there – texturally richer with bigger budgets and better press, but there is something about The Americans that really gets under your skin. It gives off all the vibes of not caring to rush, but actually moves pretty quickly. The performances are subdued – yet universally exceptional. There are no explosions – but it is one incredibly tense show. Set in the last decade of the Cold War, The Americans is the story of KGB spies living in comfortable American suburbia. Elizabeth and Philip Jennings (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) are sleeper Soviet agents pretending to be married travel. Tasked with gathering intelligence, their day-to-day existence is hardly really life on the run. It’s stable by design, meant to look ordinary. As a result the muted, cold ’80s production design lulls you into a false sense of security. When Elizabeth brazenly murders a security guard because it’s the least complicated solution it is both shocking and ho-hum, Russell makes you believe Elizabeth would do anything for Mother Russia. Details seem spot on, more so than the messy Homeland. Put it down to show creator Joe Weisberg being ex-CIA or perhaps the writing team committed to seeing plots develop organically, although the FBI officer moving in next door trope walks on thin ice.

There’s ample opportunity to laugh at ’80s technology if that’s your thing but The Americans is a better show than that. Russell and Rhys are award-worthy brilliant, epicentres of a hollow and fake world ready to overthrow the US Government at a moment’s notice. Their bond, or lack thereof, eventually becomes the turning point of the show, a brave decision that eschews the excitement for espionage for complexity of relationships.

JUSTIN HOOK

52

JUSTIN HOOK

JUSTIN HOOK

@bmamag

the word

on gigs

Soundwave @ Sydney Olympic Park Sunday February 23 Metal fans are lovely people. Sure, they might cover themselves in fake blood, satanic insignias and slogans that would make your mother faint, but they’re quite happy to hold open the door to a portaloo, say ‘excuse me’ when pushing past you in a mosh and ‘sorry’ after splashing you with mid strength hard liquor.

Sydney Olympic Park was brimming with hardcore politeness on Sunday February 23 for the annual Soundwave rock-a-palooza. This year’s line-up, which a friendly old man wearing a goat’s head as a hat advised me was ‘Not as good as last year’s maaate’, included Green Day, Alice in Chains, Korn, Rob Zombie and Placebo among countless other bands from across the globe.

The first thing I noticed when I meandered up to the gate was the army of police sniffer dogs flanking the entrance. Luckily I had sprayed myself with deodorant and not ‘drugs’ (they could of at least told me that I smelled nice) so I waltzed past them with all the swagger of a teenage dirtbag.

Once inside the mini city, it was immediately apparent that this was no ordinary festival. Everyone was wearing band shirts, as far as the eye could see. It was like a gigantic merch stand with thousands of little legs attached. Hankering for a sweet drop of brown courage, I headed off to find a bar. I was absolutely dumbfounded to see that there were longer lines for a Subway sandwich than there were for cold cans of liquor. The myriad of bars dotted all over the grounds were a huge tick for festivals organisers.

Mid strength (boo!) Jim Beam in hand, I walked into the main stadium, just as Richie Sambora began breathing the first bars of ‘Living on a Prayer’ into his bizarre mouth harp; a great introduction to the day and a great finisher for his set. Next up on the adjacent stage were The Living End. These guys have spewed out more pub anthems than a dusty jukebox and they packed most of the fan favourites into a tight one hour performance. The highlight of the set was Chris Cheney strumming his axe with a frothing beer (Straya!).

Another iconic band, Placebo, were up next. As soon as Brian Molko’s swishy hair was in sight, the burgeoning crowd lost their collective minds. Switching faultlessly between classics (‘Every You, Every Me’, ‘Special K’) and recent releases (‘Too Many Friends’ – what a record!), the band completely stole the show.

It was almost time for US rockers Korn to kick off so I jostled my way across the park to find a place on the grassed area beside the American Idiot stage. I can’t say that I am familiar with much of their back catalogue but I was completely blown away by their energy on stage. “SYDNEY, YOU PUSSIES YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!” God bless your soul, Jonathan Davis.

The day rounded off with a trippy journey down memory lane from Alice in Chains and a mind blowing sing-along from Green Day, but for me the most impressive aspect of the festival was the crowd.

This was an assembly of outcasts. The freaks with blue hair and nose piercings that were always picked last for sports. The overweight goths who were banished to the dark corner of the school cafeteria.

The skinny introvert who never feels comfortable speaking unless it is through their guitar. There was an overwhelming feeling of belonging at Soundwave 2014, even I didn’t particularly fit the mould.

PHOTOS BY STEVE NEBAUER/A BEAR IMAGE

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TIM GALVIN

53

the word

on gigs

The Hollies Canberra Theatre Tuesday February 18 They had not been to Canberra for four decades, but British pop legends The Hollies (formed 1962) have been fondly remembered and it was a packed house on the night. With a band of this vintage (with drummer Bobby Elliott and guitarist Tony Hicks members since 1963) it was no surprise that the audience hairdo of the night was male pattern baldness and the colour of choice was 49 shades of grey (the other one was home crook).

A great feature of a Hollies show is the pleasant surprises which arise from songs long forgotten, only for them to spring back to memory at the opening notes. ‘Gasoline Alley Bred’, ‘Jennifer Eccles’, ‘On a Carousel’, ‘Bus Stop’ …they just rolled on and on.

Relative newcomer Peter Howarth (a member for just ten years) was lead vocalist, but the vocals were shared around and it’s the interplay between voices in three part harmonies that is the Hollies trademark. With no support, they played two sets, showing off some fancy kit, with guitars delivering the sound of the sitar and the banjo.

The latter was used to wonderful effect for the hand clapper ‘Stop Stop Stop’. There was a little new stuff, including one song written about their own career. (This personal introspection stuff is a bit corny.) However, almost all the night was taken up with their many hits. Long Cool ‘Woman in a Black Dress’ had people dancing in the seats. One woman in front leapt up and jigged about with violent abandon (if we could harness that power the renewable energy problem would be licked). They closed with band favourites ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ and ‘The Air That I Breath’.

RORY McCARTNEY

the word

on gigs

Darren Hanlon, Shelley Short Members Dining Room, Old Parliament House Thursday March 6 A near hidden backdoor concealed what was inside. A room that has served royalty and Prime Ministers alike now transformed temporarily into an ad hoc venue – and an overly official one at that. Menzies’ 50th was here, or so said the press release and the bartender said even the beer taps were heritage listed. Nearly as regal as The Phoenix. A deco-style piano dominated the room as the crowd settled onto chairs of MPs past. Instead of the advertised support of Adam Selzer, Shelley Short took the stage due to traffic difficulties. Short and staccato in speech, Short’s voice soared across the room, dipping and diving over plucked guitar. A set of covers and originals, Short’s set was downbeat lyrically but not in performance, providing a more than able emergency support and one well worth seeing on her own billing.

By contrast, Darren Hanlon speaks like he sings; plainly and to the point. Not to say that there isn’t some poetry and magic behind the voice, as Hanlon is apparently the Australian master of the simile.

Hanlon mixes humour throughout his songs, like a larrikin of old, but he’s at his best at his most serious.

PHOTO BY MEGAN LEAHY

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Hanlon and his makeshift band were using this show, amongst others, to road test new material before the recording and release of his new album. As it was partially conceived in the US, there was a heavy American focus on much the new material in his set. Some older “favourites” popped their heads up through the set, but the newer material stood equally tall CODY ATKINSON

@bmamag

the word

on gigs

Charles Bradley, Brass Knuckle Brass Band, Sunshine Brothers, Crystal Barreca Parliamentary Triangle, Enlighten Festival Saturday March 1 Beauty is fleeting. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Something held up as visually stunning today may be out of style tomorrow. Art and design should be taken in the here and now, in the visceral moment that you experience it in. Enlighten is a bold nod to this. A ten day long festival designed to putting the capital in a different light, pardon the pun.

Enlighten puts a new spin on the nation’s great monuments, showing a diverse range of design on some of Australia’s most grand public buildings. Some will like this, others will not; luckily the changes are made with light projections and make no permanent damage.

A wide range of events has accompanied Enlighten since its establishment, from street performance to big name concerts and even late night gallery openings. As an event, it attempts to be well balanced and draw together a wide cross section of Canberra.

An early setback for the night was the re-location of the major concert of the night due to the inclement weather. Instead of being under the wing of the National Portrait Gallery, Charles Bradley and Brass Knuckle Brass Band were moved to the Uncle Ben’s stage, in the shadows of the National Library and Questacon. Not a bad surrounds for your back-up venue. Unfortunately, this also meant a two hour delay on the main show.

Hitting the Uncle Ben’s stage early was Crystal Barreca. Playing a poppy brand of jazz, Barreca and her band held the attention of many when there was a reasonable excuse for leaving (the poor weather). A decent start to the feature show nonetheless.

With so many attractions around there was ample opportunities to explore, including various street performers around the Triangle. Unfortunately, that meant that I missed most of the Sunshine Brothers, who sounded good reverberating across the Parliamentary Triangle.

Up next were the Brass Knuckle Brass Band, or BKBB for brevity’s sake. Brevity was the name of the game here, with BKBB’s set cut short and moved onto the Caravan side stage due to the venue shift.

BKBB play quite regularly and have a devoted fan base who seem to follow them around. It may be a surprise, but the BKBB play brass music. They are also very good at doing so.

But it seemed that the crowd stuck around in the drizzle for one reason – to see the Screaming Eagle of soul. Charles Bradley has quite an aura around him, a sense of authority on stage. Discovered later in life by the Daptone record label while performing as a James Brown impersonator, Bradley recorded his first album at the age of 62. But his range as a musician dives well past that of mere impersonation; indeed he has his own voice and a powerful one at that. Backed by a rock solid seven piece band, Bradley harks back to classic ’70s soul – voices like Redding, Green and, yes, Brown. While Bradley is hard to miss as the front man, the Extraordinaires put in a fine set as a backing band, keeping the show kicking while Bradley made his costume changes through the show.

PHOTOS BY MEGAN LEAHY

Bradley and the band displayed their full repertoire on the night, from slower jams up to more distortion filled tracks. The set peaked with standout ‘Why Is It So Hard?’, but the standard throughout the set was, well, extraordinary. A top set by a man and his band whose day in the sun is far from over.

CODY ATKINSON

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55

the word

on gigs

Slow Turismo, The Steptones Transit Bar Friday February 28 The cold seemed to seep in on a night more like winter than summer.

Welcome to Canberra – but being a local gig, everyone probably knew that already. Transit Bar is a venue that is cavernous when nearly empty but heaving when even half full, seemingly tricking the senses at every turn.

Up first were The Steptones, a young band who play perfunctory indie rock. It temporarily reminded me of being at a wedding, with some brave folk dancing but most chatting to their friends in various nooks and crannies around the room. I imagine they’d be good at a wedding, but perhaps less so in this environment.

This was Slow Turismo’s third show as a band. I happened to catch their second, to a near-empty room in Turner a couple of weeks ago.

Usually new acts are nervous, have little pre-written material and are really loose on stage. Not the case with these guys. This time around, Slow Turismo played a similarly tight set, but with a crowd which fed off the performance. Stylistically, they are a mish-mash of genres – a little afrobeat in the backline, some nice summery guitar riffs and some falsetto vocals up front. As a lazy reference point, think of Vampire Weekend crossed with Fleet Foxes with bits of shoegaze and ‘80s British indie in there. While this sounds jumbled, Slow Turismo makes their sonic identity clear on stage.

PHOTO BY MEGAN LEAHY

the word

on gigs

If there is a criticism of their set it is that it seemingly ran out of steam near the end, with the majority of their strong songs coming early on. But as a whole, a very good show by a very new band.

CODY ATKINSON

Dan Sultan, The Medics Zierholz @ UC Thursday February 27 The Medics projected sombre vibes in their set. They pushed out serious, weighty music, driven by vigorous guitar passages and strong drumming from the hirsute Jhindu Lawrie. Bassist Charles Thomas jived around, sending his ball cap flying, as Andrew Thomson struggled with a wayward guitar strap. Frontman Kahl Wallace proudly flew the Aboriginal flag on his T shirt, as he rolled out references to the Dreamtime and the Rainbow Serpent, his singing alternating between forceful and high and floating. The band wrapped up with the powerful song ‘Stone and Clay’.

Fresh from supporting Bruce Springsteen, Dan Sultan’s gig was going to be an interesting test as to how his Blackbird album – heavily produced with brass and backing vocals, would translate to a three piece band (including the singer). I needn’t have worried.

Sultan opened with the album’s lead track ‘Make Me Slip’, a good rocking song to engage the audience early on. His owl tattoo peered comically from under the neckline of his T shirt, as he showed he’s a mean guitarist with some fancy strumming on ‘The Same Man’.

‘Under Your Skin’ (the tour name tag) showed Sultan’s outstanding voice needs no studio tricks to sound hot, just a bassist and ‘Pete the Heat’ on skins. ‘It Belongs to Us’ didn’t bring the smooth backing vocals of the album, but it didn’t matter at all. There was a heavy slab of new material early on, before reverting to a lot of older songs in the second half (to the happy yelps of the punters). A man with a great stage presence, Sultan closed the main part of the gig with ‘Kimberley Calling’, before returning for a quick encore.

RORY McCARTNEY

56

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wed Mar 12 - Fri Mar 14

Listings are a free community service. Email editorial@bmamag.com to have your events appear each issue. wednesday march 12

Art Exhibitions Rise of The Machines

An exhibition by Katy Mutton. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Open Mic Night

Open Mic plus live music by David Turnbull. 8pm. Free.

The Rural Series

SATIS CAFE

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

On The Town

Trace

Latino Wednesdays Open 9pm

MONKEY BAR

Something Different Acoustic Soup

A night of organic food and local music. $10 entry, $8 for students and members. 7-10:30pm.

ANU FOOD CO-OP

Naked Girls Reading

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free M16 ARTSPACE

Film Alliance French Film Festival PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Live Music Thursday Jazz at Smith’s

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

Blaze Eight

Zine Lounge

9pm-12am.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

The Rural Series

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

Make your own handmade comic or magazine. Open daily 9-5pm.

OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE

Trivia

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

Transit Trivia

Trace

TRANSIT BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Flex your noggin. Table bookings essential! 2 for $20 pizzas. 7:30pm.

Free.

thursday march 13

8pm. Price TBA.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Featuring Kingston Crown (Adelaide) + Positive Feedback Loop. 7.30pm, $5.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Sing For Your Supper

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

New and upcoming artists, play a 30 min set for dinner and a drink.

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

9:30pm. Free

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

The Holidays

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

On tour in support of their latest album ‘Real Feel’ - supported by The Cairos and Mitcharelli. 8pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Zika

With Liam McKahey & The Bodies.

7.30pm / $10 THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Wednesday Lunchtime Live Concert

With Robert Schmidli (piano). 12:401:20pm. $2-5.

Myriad Ways, 5-7pm. Free.

On The Town 4Some Thursdays Free entry.

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

You Are Festival 2014

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Hues of Grey

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Blaze Eight

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Urban Weavings

Dos Locos

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Art Exhibitions

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

HOTEL HOTEL, new acton

CMC Presents: Local and Live Musicians

friday march 14

With Evan Buckley. 7.30pm. Entry by donation.

Rise of The Machines

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

HOLY CROSS LUTHERAN CHURCH

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

Alliance French Film Festival

Live Music

All levels welcome. Bring paper, easels and drawing materials. 1–3pm. $12/ day.

Sam Buckingham and Benjamin James Caldwell

Thursday Long Play

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Life Drawing Workshop

THE LOFT AT DUXTON

Art Exhibitions

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

GUNGAHLIN LIBRARY

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

TRANSIT BAR

An exhibition by Katy Mutton. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

Free course in music production. Call (02) 6140 4990 for more info. 6:307:30pm.

Nick Rigby

Film Celebrating all thing French. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

Introduction to Ableton Live

Celebrating all things French. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

Naked Girls Reading is a group of beautiful women who love to read (out loud)… Naked. 7:30-10:30pm. Free.

Hues of Grey

Workshops

Something Different Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Theatre Cut Snake

An award-winning Arthur Production.

7pm (plus school matinee session) $10-$20 cytc.net

Hues of Grey

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Blaze Eight

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

The Rural Series

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am – 4pm Tuesday – Sunday.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Trace

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free M16 ARTSPACE

Rise of The Machines

An exhibition by Katy Mutton. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

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57

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Fri Mar 14 - Sun Mar 16 Comedy Class Clowns

Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s comp for teens. 2pm. $10.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Film Alliance French Film Festival

Celebrating all things French. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Live Music

Jelly Days

Old Parliament House could be your office for a day! Receive free wifi plus cafe discounts. From March 14-28.

OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE

Terms and Conditions

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. Running from 10am-2pm.

Free entry.

Trace

The Empire Strips Back

Rise of The Machines

NISHI GALLERY

A Star Wars burlesque parody.

8pm. $61.50 + bf thru canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Steve Kilbey & Mark Gable

You Are Festival 2014

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

An exhibition by Katy Mutton. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Luc Baker

Theatre

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

5pm afternoon session/10:00pm band.

Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Jericco

With Escape Syndrome, Eyes to the Sky, Arcane Saints. Doors 8pm. Price TBA THE BASEMENT

Much Party

D’Opus and Roshambo. 8pm. Free entry.

Cut Snake

An award winning Arthur Production.

7pm (plus school matinee session) $10-$20 cytc.net GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

saturday march 15 Art Exhibitions Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

9pm/12.50am. Free.

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

A. Baker Friday

Urban Weavings

TRANSIT BAR

The Jukes

WALSH’S HOTEL

Brennan (world of groove). 5-8 pm.

Free.

A. BAKER

GOLD – The Ultimate Abba Show The New Arrival Tour. 8:00pm, $50-$60

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

THE PLAYHOUSE

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

On The Town

Hues of Grey

Ministry of Sound Clubbers Guide

Ft. Joel Fletcher. $15 before midnight.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Havana Nights

Canberra’s hottest Latino night with DJ Trent Richardson + DJ Spink - open from 9pm MONKEY BAR

Something Different Tarot Card Reading 6-8pm. Free entry.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Blaze Eight

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

The Rural Series

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Sax in the City

8:30pm/12am. Free.

JERRABOMBERRA HOTEL

On The Town Love Saturdays with Rawson $10 aentry.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

MONKEY BAR

Film

Nick Rigby & Oscar

THE STREET THEATRE

Urban Playground Presents Canberra’s HOTTEST RnB

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

THE LOFT AT DUXTON

Supported by the Brass Knuckle Band.

8pm. $25-$30.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

“A stumble through Australian pop history.” 7.30pm. $30 tix through www. trybooking.com 9pm-12am.

Chris Gudu

Alliance French Film Festival C’est film. C’est French. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

10pm.

Something Different Art, Not Apart Festival

Live Music

200 artists, inc. visual artists, 5 stages of music at various times, punchy shows and site specific entertainment.

Music, Lunch

Sound and Fury

Toggle (live beats, looped guitars, angelic vocals). 11am-1pm. Free.

MOCAN & GREEN GROUT

The Red Henrys

9pm/12.50am. Free.

WALSH’S HOTEL

Steve Kilbey & Mark Gable

“A stumble through Australian pop history.” 7.30pm. $30, tix from www. trybooking.com SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Andrew Vievers

Classical flamenco guitar. 3pm-5pm, tix $20 SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

A. Basement

Basement DJs let loose. Like a basement should be. 6:30pm-late. Free.

A. BAKER

DJ Norm

9pm-12am.

THE LOFT AT DUXTON

Jordan Miller 7.30pm. $15.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Live Piano with James

Like live piano? Join James tinkles our ivories with schmoozy jazzy tunes.

9-10pm. Free.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

The Surrogates 10:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

No Assumption

The Acid Monkeys, Kang, Handball Deathmatch. Doors 8pm. $10.

NEWACTON PRECINCT

Performance party like nothing Canberra has seen. 1pm-late. Free.

HOTEL HOTEL, new acton

Art, Not Apart Afterparty

Sound and Fury after party. 1pm till late.

NEWACTON PRECINCT

Terms and Conditions

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. Launch: 14 March.10-2pm.

Free.

NISHI GALLERY

You Are Festival 2014

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Guitar and Amp Garage Sale

A range of acoustic, electric, and resonators, amps and fx units. 12-6pm.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

sunday march 16 Art Exhibitions Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers.Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Urban Weavings

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

THE BASEMENT

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

58

@bmamag

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Sun Mar 16 - Tue Mar 18 Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

Matt Dent

Film

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Ashley Feraude

Alliance French Film Festival

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

5-7pm. Free.

5-10pm.

A selection of modern french cinema.

Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

THE LOFT AT DUXTON

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Something Different

Live Music

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

Guitar and Amp Garage Sale

Moon Day Fusion

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

Terms and Conditions

Hues of Grey

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Rural Series

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Trace

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

A range of acoustic, electric, resonators, amps and fx units.12-6pm.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

CMC Presents The Bootleg Sessions

You Are Festival 2014

St Patrick’s Day @ The Irish Club

NISHI GALLERY

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

monday march 17

An exhibition by Katy Mutton. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

Film Alliance French Film Festival The best of French cinema.Tickets palacecinemas.com.au PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Art Exhibitions Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

Live Music

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

Sunday Afternoon Music

Hues of Grey

Enjoy breezy music, antipasti, platters and sangria. 1:30-3:30pm.

OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE

HOTEL HOTEL

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. Launch: 14 March.10-2pm.

Free.

Rise of The Machines

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Fusion: Riboniga (producer, Syd) with Maarion Elsz, Logman & Pstump (downtempo with guitars).5-7:30pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

7.30pm. $5.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Live music from Night Potion, Humbug and Fir Croi. From midday to late.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

St Patrick’s Day @ King O’Malley’s

Live music all day. Free

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Something Different Terms and Conditions

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Trivia

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

TRANSIT BAR

3pm-6pm

7:30pm. $15

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday.

Canberra Blues Society Jam

Trace

THE DUXTON

Jordan Miller THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

With Blue Yvie. 2-5:30pm. $3 members/$5 non-members.

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

M16 ARTSPACE

Irish Jam Session, Live Bands All Afternoon

Comedy

Free traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Schnitz & Giggles Improvisation Comedy 6.30pm-8pm, $5.

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Hues of Grey

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Rural Series

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm, Tuesday-Sunday.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Trace

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Film

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

A. BAKER

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

Blaze Eight

You Are Festival 2014

Rainman’s Trivial Excuse

Nick Rigby

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Alliance French Film Festival

NISHI GALLERY

The Rural Series

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. From 10am-2pm. Free.

Sunday Sipper

DJs Buick (master turnatablist) and Ribongia (wobbly day beats). 3-8pm.

Free.

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

Transit trivia returns with your host Rainman. Book now on (02) 6162 0899. 7pm. Free.

tuesday march 18

A selection of modern French cinema.

Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

Karaoke Karaoke Love

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

TRANSIT BAR

Live Music The Tiger Lillies

The godfathers of the alt-cabaret movement return. 8pm.

Tickets $40-$45.

THE STREET THEATRE

Art Exhibitions

Something Different

Urban Weavings

You Are Festival 2014

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

Terms and Conditions

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. From 10am-2pm. Free.

NISHI GALLERY

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

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59

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Tue Mar 18 - Fri Mar 21 Theatre

Gemma Armarego

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

8pm, $25 - $35.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Trivia Weekly Trivia

Table bookings recommended but walkups welcome. 6pm.

SYNCHRONICITY CAFE AND RESTAURANT

Workshops Music Craft for 5-8 Years

See mfe.org.au for booking and information. 5pm.

AINSLIE ARTS CENTRE

730pm.

Wednesday Lunchtime Live Concert

With Matt Withers (guitar). 12:40– 1:20pm. $2–5.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

With The Swamp Crocs, Time & Weight.

Doors 8pm. $10.

M16 ARTSPACE

THE BASEMENT

Film

Something Different

Alliance French Film Festival French cinema at its best.Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

19th Hole Whisky Club

Thursday Long Play HOTEL HOTEL

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

9pm-12am.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. From 10-2pm. Free.

Siobhan Corcoran

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Trivia

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Hues of Grey

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Rural Series

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Transit Trivia

Flex your noggin. Table bookings essential! 2 for $20 pizzas. 7:30pm.

Free.

TRANSIT BAR

thursday march 20

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Film

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Live Music Sing For Your Supper

New and upcoming artists, play a 30 min set for dinner and a drink.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

CMC Presents Local and Touring Original Bands

The Good Lovelies (Canada) 7.30pm, $10, www.trybookin.com SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Billy Bragg

Part of Weereewa Festival of Lake George, with Marcela Fiorillo (piano).

7pm. $15-35.

Blaze Eight

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Blaze Eight

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Hold Your Tongue

An exhibition by Martin James. 11am5pm, Wednesday-Sunday.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Hues of Grey

Chicago Charles & Dave

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

The Rural Series

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

9:30pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

On The Town

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

4Some Thursdays Free entry.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

You Are Festival 2014

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

A celebration of French cinema. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

Voices of the Land

Urban Weavings

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

Trace

Alliance French Film Festival

7.30pm. $5

Something Different

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday.

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12noon-5pm Wed-Sun. Free

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Art Exhibitions

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Smith’s Thursday Night Jazz

Theatre

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light Blaze Eight

THE LOFT AT DUXTON

7.30pm. $10.

8pm, $25-$35

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Nick Rigby

NISHI GALLERY

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

Urban Weavings

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Terms and Conditions

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun, 12noon-5pm.

Art Exhibitions

Live Music

Urban Weavings

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

friday march 21

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Art Exhibitions

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

HOLY CROSS LUTHERAN CHURCH

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Aidan Lowe trio (original jazz).

5-7:30pm. Free.

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

All levels welcome. Bring paper, easels and drawing materials. 1-3pm. $12.

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

Join our Whisky Revealer Nathanael Kennedy on a wander across the globe sampling distinct varieties.

wednesday march 19

Life Drawing Workshop

Trace

Baltimore Gun Club

You Are Festival 2014

Workshops

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Terms and Conditions

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley.10am-4pm, Tuesday-Sunday.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Trace

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. From 10-2pm. Free.

Film

Theatre

The best of French cinema. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Sounds on Sight

NISHI GALLERY

8:00pm, $25 - $35.

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Alliance French Film Festival PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

Metallica: Through the Never. 7:30pm.

Tickets TBA. NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVES

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Hues of Grey

A mixed media exhibition celebrating Seniors Week. 10am-4pm. Free BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Rural Series

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Hold Your Tongue

An exhibition by Martin James. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

The Tooth & Nail tour, with Courtney Barnett. 8pm.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Fri Mar 21 - Sun Mar 23 Live Music A. Baker Friday

Kirrah Amosa’s Funk Trio. 5-8pm. Free.

A. BAKER

Elizabeth Rose

With | SAFIA , Fishing (live). Tix from Moshtix ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Rhythm Confidential

Sondrio, Brenton K and Floppy Disk.

8pm. Free entry.

TRANSIT BAR

Electric Eclectic Fest

Perpetual End, Knights Of The Spatchcock, Eyes To The Sky, Beast Impalor and more. Doors 8pm. $20.

THE BASEMENT

Matt Dent/The Surrogates

5pm afternoon session/10pm band.

Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

In Solitary

Johnny Cash In Solitary confinement.

8pm. Tickets $40-$50.

THE STREET THEATRE

Something Different You Are Festival 2014

saturday march 22 Art Exhibitions Fossilised Water and Petrified Air

New paper and ceramic works inspired by the landscape of the Kimberley. From 10am-4pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Trace

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Urban Weavings

Urban Weavings presents contemporary three-dimensional, functional and nonfunctional pieces.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Hold Your Tongue

An exhibition by Martin James. 11am5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

Elioth Gruner: The Texture of Light

Tarot Card Reading

Blaze Eight

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

6–8pm. Free entry.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

Tarot Reading - With Marisol Free entry/Private Tarot Readings.

6-8pm.$10-$40 POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

Singles Night

Live music from max sullivan, food and drinks package. 6:30-9:30pm. $39 via outincanberra.com THE TRADIES (DICKSON)

Terms and Conditions

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. From 10-2pm. Free.

Mon-Fri 10-5pm, Sat and Sun 12-5pm.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Kimosabi THE LOFT AT DUXTON

Marcus Corowa

Art Exhibitions

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Trace

7.30pm. $15 (OzTix) 8pm-11pm

Remindlessness, Essence of Place, Still Moving.12-5pm Wed-Sun. Free

Ultimate 90s Night.

Fuelling Ed Radclyffe

THE BASEMENT

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Matt Dent

Bands being covered include Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Faith No More.

Ed Radclyffe is a visual artist and musician with The Fuelers. Mon-Fri 10am-5pm Sat-Sun 12noon-5pm.

City Underground

The Rural Series

MAGPIES CITY CLUB

With Delinquent (Shoalhaven) and Hearing Voices. 8pm. $5.

Alliance French Film Festival

NISHI GALLERY

French film festival. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

Talks

Cult of Arc

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Live Music

Love Saturdays with The Projektz

Ashley Feraude 5-10pm.

$10 all night

THE LOFT AT DUXTON

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Sunday Afternoon Music

Something Different

Harvest Festival

Terms and Conditions

Cross Disciplinary Artists are Rule Breakers. From 10-2pm. Free.

Sunday Sipper

DJs Degg (damn funky) and Faux Real (as smooth as wax in the sun). 3-8pm.

Free.

A. BAKER

Celebrating local and organic produce, enjoy live music, kids play area, and an organic wine bar!

CANBERRA ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY RESOURCE CENTRE

Enjoy breezy music, antipasti, platters and sangria. 1:30-3:30pm.

OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

Smith’s Summer Sounds and Sangria

The Conversation jazz band 3pm-5pm, $5 SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Azlan

3pm-6pm.

THE DUXTON

NISHI GALLERY

Organ Concert

WESLEY UNITING CHURCH

ROYAL THEATRE

Live Music

8pm, $25-$35

Theatre

Music, Lunch

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

MOCAN & GREEN GROUT

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

On The Town

Theatre

8:00pm, $25-$35

French film festival. Tickets palacecinemas.com.au

10:30pm. Free.

Escape Plan plus Pumping Iron.

7:30pm. Ticket price TBA.

NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVES

Alliance French Film Festival

Heuristic

The Bill Bryson Show

Many a True Word, a live conversation hosted by Ray Martin. 8pm. $85 + bf.

Film

P J O’REILLY’S (TUGGERANONG)

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Film

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Eyes to the Sky

The Rural Series

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

Novia Scotia, Dylan Hekimian and Sparrow-Folk. 8pm. $10.

You Are Festival 2014

Ray McJannett explores the landscapes and stories of the historic districts of Yass and Gunning.

M16 ARTSPACE

THE DUXTON

Art exhibit. 11am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturday. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

sunday march 23

9pm-12pm

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

With David Crean (The Juilliard School, New York). 3pm. $10-30.

Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

THE COURTYARD STUDIO

Xavier Dunn (guitar, angelic vocals).

12-2pm. Free.

Something Different

Josh Pyke

Eleven days of beautiful madness. See youareherecanberra.com.au for all events and venues.

You Are Festival 2014

With Jackson McLaren. 8pm. $37.40/44.90 + bf thru Oztix.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

ZIERHOLZ @ UC

OUT

Mar 26

national folk festival the jezabels The Little stevies ...and more!

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FIRST CONTACT SIDE A: BMA band profile

Aaron Peacey 0410381306 band.afternoon.shift@ gmail.com.au Adam Hole 0421023226

Afternoon Shift 0402055314 Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410308288 Annie & The Armadillos Annie (02) 61611078/ 0422076313 Aria Stone sax/flute/lute/ harmonica, singer-songwriter Aria 0411803343

Pivotal Point Where did your band name come from?

When discussing the circumstances in which we became a band, the phrase ‘that was the pivotal point for us’ jumped out and it sort of just went from there.

Group members? Alice (vocals), Brendon (bass), Matt (drums), Hugh (hammond), Rob (guitar) Dan (piano), Kev, Lew & Adam (guitars), Nick & Tom (sax), Jack & Erik (backing vocals).

Describe your sound: Motown/Funk/Rock.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.

What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had whilst performing? Come to Transit Bar, Friday the 4th of April then you can tell us of the greatest and most memorable experience that we’ve had whilst performing. Fact.

Of what are you proudest so far? The musicians that played on our album.

What are your plans for the future? To get as much stage time as possible. We’ve got a band full of great musos and we can’t wait to show them off to as many people as we can.

What makes you laugh? Alice’s unique stories. They start nowhere, lay down, punch line rolls around a bit and usually finish with her finding $50.

What pisses you off? Alice’s unique stories. They start nowhere, lay down, punch line rolls around a bit and usually finish with her finding $50. Pretty sure she still owes me $50.

What about the local scene would you change?Less restrictions on our live music venues. We have the people here in Canberra that want to see live bands play so why are we stopping them?.

What are your upcoming gigs? Friday 4th April @ Transit Bar. Album release ‘It Doesn’t Look Good On Paper’, as a part of our Independent Record Label launch ‘Audioary Records’.

Contact info: pivotalpointband.co, facebook.com/ pivotalpointband;

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Australian Songwriters Association Keiran (02) 62310433 Back to the Eighties Ty Emerson 0418 544 014 Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422733974 backbeatdrivers.com Bat Country Communion, The Mel 0400405537 Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows-bookings@ birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438351007 blacklabelphotography.net Bridge Between, The Cam 0431550005 Capital Dub Style Reggae/dub events Rafa 0406647296 Chris Harland Blues Band, The Chris 0418 490 649 chrisharlandbluesband @gmail.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415982662 Danny V Danny 0413502428 Dawn Theory Nathan 0402845132 Danny 0413502428 Dorothy Jane Band, The Dorothy Jane 0411065189 dorothy-jane@dorothyjane.com Drumassault Dan 0406 375 997 Feldons, The 0407 213 701 FeralBlu Danny 0413502428 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410381306 Lachlan 0400038388 Fourth Degree Vic 0408477020 Gareth Dailey DJ/Electronica Gareth 0414215885 Groovalicious Corporate/ weddings/private functions 0448995158

In The Flesh Scott 0410475703 Itchy Triggers Alex 0414838480 Jenn Pacor Singer-songwriter avail. for originals/covers 0405618630 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408287672 paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Kayo Marbilus facebook.com/kayomarbilus1 Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417025792 Los Chavos Latin/ska/reggae Rafa 0406647296 Andy 0401572150 Missing Zero Hadrian 0424721907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots Huck 0419630721 Morning After, The Covers band Anthony 0402500843 Mornings Jordan 0439907853 MuShu Jack 0414292567 mushu_band@hotmail.com Obsessions 0450 960 750 obsessions@grapevine.com.au Painted Hearts, The Peter (02) 62486027 Polka Pigs Ian (02) 62315974 Rafe Morris 0416322763 Redletter Ben 0421414472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404178996/ (02) 61621527 Rug, The Jol 0417273041 Sewer Sideshow Huck 0419630721 Simone & The Soothsayers Singing teacher Simone 62304828 Sorgonian Twins, The Mark 0428650549 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401588884 STonKA Jamie 0422764482 stonka2615@gmail.com Strange Hour Events Dan 0411112075 Super Best Friends Sam White sam@imcmusic.net System Addict Jamie 0418398556 Tegan Northwood (Singing Teacher) 0410 769 144

Guy The Sound Guy Live & Studio Sound Engineer 0400585369 guy@guythesoundguy.com

Top Shelf Colin 0408631514

Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com

Zoopagoo zoopagoo@gmail.com

Undersided, The Baz 0408468041

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