3205 South Melbourne Insert FEBRUARY 2013

CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR – THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE

SNAKES, DRAGONS, LIONS & FIREWORKS LIGHT UP THE RIVERWALK

SOUTH MELBOURNE STREET SCENE DISCOVER MONTAGUE ST

GASWORKS BACKYARD CINEMA RETURNS FOR A THIRD SEASON

SOUTH MELBOURNE ICON THE BUTTERFLY CLUB FINDS A NEW HOME FEBRUARY 2013

3205 SOUTH MELBOURNE

‘XIN NIAN KUAI LE’

publishers Susan Riley {susanr@magmedia.com.au} William Rowe {williamr@magmedia.com.au} editor Lisa Quittner {editor@magmedia.com.au} 3205 South Melbourne enquiries {enquiries@magmedia.com.au}

SOUTH MELBOURNE!

design Susan de Kretser Smith & Rowe {susandk@smithandrowe.com.au} advertising Belle Ngien 0411 615 910 {advertise@magmedia.com.au} Susan Riley {susan@magmedia.com.au}

Well, hopefully I have just wished you all a Happy New Year in Chinese, if not, I apologise profusely!

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Chinese New Year is always a highlight to start off the cycle of exciting festivals and events around town and any excuse to feast on Chinese food is a good enough excuse for me.

cover image Crown’s Chinese New Year Festival

In its 11th year and attracting over 100,000 visitors per day along the Crown Riverwalk, the Chinese New Year Festival and Riverwalk Hawker’s Bazaar is even bigger in 2013 with a host activities, entertainment, foods to delight in and cultural exhibitions, as well as stalls and interactive performances to enjoy while celebrating the Year of the Snake.

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IN THIS ISSUE: Snakes, Dragons, Lions & Fireworks

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Street Scene – Part 4

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247 Days - Chunky Move

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Gasworks Backyard Cinema

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Silent

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Souvenir

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The Butterfly Club relocates

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down. Gaswork’s Backyard Cinema is a great example and this February some fantastic films are on the programme and we have some tickets to give away on page 6.

While South Melbourne loses an icon, the good news is that the fun and frivolity of The Butterfly Club will live on in its new city location, but not before a few final farewell proceedings including the Final Countdown Gala and Sammy J & Randy’s Eviction Party.

As always, we welcome input from our readers so if you have an event or a story to tell about South Melbourne please be in touch!

Have a fabulous February,

Andrew Powell presents the next instalment in his Street Scene Series for South Melbourne, this time focussing on Montague Street on page 4 of this issue.

Personally, one of the things I love about summer is the extended hours of daylight.

It’s a great opportunity to get out of the house or office and spend time with family and friends outdoors before the sun goes

Lisa Quittner editor@magmedia.com.au

SINCE 2003

LIGHT UP THE RIVERWALK AT CROWN’S CHINESE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL

Crown’s Chinese New Year Festival and Riverwalk Hawker’s Bazaar has become an annual tradition in Melbourne’s Lunar New Year celebrations. Now in its eleventh year, the festival has expanded its offering and still attracts over 100,000 visitors per day filling the Crown Riverwalk from Friday 8 February until Sunday 10 February from 11am until 11pm, daily and admission and particpation is free!

Fireworks are customary to Chinese New Year folklore as they are believed to ward off evil spirits and this year a spectacular fireworks display will take place on Sunday 10 February from 10.45pm along the Yarra River in front of Crown.

To celebrate the Year of the Snake, Crown Riverwalk will feature a series of activities and entertainment including cooking demonstrations, 45 food and market style stalls, a host of cultural activities, exhibitions and live entertainment including roving and interactive performances.

The Year of the Snake is associated with beauty and wisdom, esoteric knowledge and spiritual discovery. Indulge all the senses and sample the traditional delicacies for the entire family including the traditional Prosperity Salad, the popular Durian ice-cream and the array of authentic Asian culinary delights that leave guests spoilt for choice.

Entertainment for the entire family across the weekend includes karaoke, an interactive petting zoo and traditional song and dance. Not to be missed is the spectacular dragon and lion processions which take place throughout the event starting at the Atrium and traversing the festival from Queensbridge Road through to Spencer Street. According to Chinese legend, the dragon is the ruler of the sky and water, and holds the highest position amongst all the animals, whilst the lions serve as its protector. The ceremonial dances serve to ward off evil spirits through the thunderous sound of loud drums and firecrackers.

3205 SOUTH MELBOURNE

SNAKES, DRAGONS, LIONS & FIREWORKS

Crown’s Atrium will be transformed with an elaborate Chinese aerial structure, clustered with delicate spring flowers, lucky charms, firecrackers and stunning internally lit lanterns. To commemorate the Year of The Snake, Crown has added to the Atrium decorative display, a 30-metre gold snake hand cut in perforated floral motifs symbolising natures beauty and surrounded by eight lucky gold coins.

The Chinese New Year Atrium Display featuring the gold snake and will run until 24 February 2013.

For further information, including event and performance times, please visit www.crownmelbourne.com.au

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3205 SOUTH MELBOURNE

SOUTH MELBOURNE STREET SCENE PART 4 - MONTAGUE STREET

BY ANDREW POWELL Montague Street greets Bay Street with a dead end. This is the boundary for my territory and I’ll wave at Port Melbourne from here and turn the other way!

Housing here mixes original charm, renovated splendour and unrenovated wreckage that somehow retain an inhabitable and cohesive community.

Changing anything suggests altering the nature of the whole place.

It’s quiet in this part of the street. As you walk you find a crossroads at Dorcas and Montague Streets. Crossing over and passing the church, this bit of Montague Street looked like a ute muster, parking lot and skip storage facility in early 2012, while The Block was in production. It was a great spot for a sticky beak…

This remains Father Bob land. The Church makes it feel like the days

when religion made the community.

I’m not religious, never have been and doubt I ever will be but this is where religion influences the calm that hides an ambitious desire to achieve, the desire to turn aspiration into reality.

Testament to this is South Melbourne Commons. A community garden, café, store, social hub and leisure centre all wrapped up into a majestic building boasting a sense of grandeur many modern buildings seek and seldom find.

The Commons is “community inclusive”.

There is an activity for everyone and a great deal of effort has been spent ensuring this. Playgroups to Pilates and private functions are all welcome here. It’s a rare commodity and one I enjoy whenever I can. I like this stretch of road, not just for the amazing houses

247 DAYS How do we view the world? How does the world view us?

that highlight the street but a mailbox… not one on a computer screen. It’s a real one for posting letters, now known as “snail mail” - quite derogatory for something once seen as an art form.

You can’t hurry art and it’s hard to not feel special when you receive a letter with skilled penmanship. Sadly those skills seem almost lost now.

Continuing our walk, we have the Montague Park Café & Foodstore. The Montague Pub with a long-standing reputation for excellent food faces the café.

Align Chiropractic lives on the corner of Montague and Park Streets. Waiting for a City-bound tram, you can watch the steady stream of customers walking in with a wince, limp or irregular movement and leave with a spring in their step.

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Then you’re in Albert Park.

Home I go!

TAKE A STEP BACK IN TIME AT BLEEKER STREET VINTAGE

Working again with Composer Marcel Wierckx and Lighting Designer NiklasPajanti, 247 Days also reunites the sublimely physical ‘An Act of Now’ dancers Leif Helland, Lauren Langlois, Alya Manzart, Niharika Senapati, and James Pham, with the addition of Helpmann-nominated dancer Tara Soh.

Bleecker Street Vintage has opened at SO:ME Space at South Melbourne Market. In store, you’ll discover fine vintage clothes from Europe, Japan & the USA from the 1920’s to the 1980’s.

Presented by Malthouse Theatre & Chunky Move Following the critically acclaimed An Act of Now, voted The Age Critics Award for best new Australian work at the 2012 Melbourne Festival, 247 Days continues Chunky Move Artistic Director Anouk van

Blocks of cavernous houses frame Montague Street and link it to St Vincent’s Place. A homeless refuge means that wealth and poverty meet face-to-face and offers stark reality and contrast. It’s an equilibrium that melts lives together here. The parkland is some of the most beautifully kept, well-used and wonderfully calming I’ve ever found. I marvel at its ability to be lush and green with such little visible effort and the way it’s existence supports the activities of everyone who uses it and feels at home in it.

Dijk’s intimate and forensic exploration of the dynamics of human interaction.

Do we behave as expected, or accept who we truly are? And, if we could observe ourselves in an unguarded moment, what would we see?

Having stunned audiences in the surrounds of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, van Dijk will transport her dynamic physical language to the Merlyn Theatre, exposing not only the dancers, but also the audience, to an experience that is concurrently intimate and revealing – a dance work not to be missed.

Chunky Move strips back the layers to explore human dynamics in a shifting Australian landscape with the world premiere of 247 Days as part of Dance Massive festival.

Well aligned people make for spritely people!

When: 15-23 March, 2013 Where: Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse Tickets: $30-$49 Bookings: malthousetheatre.com.au

In addition, Bleeker Street Vintage also stocks fascinating vintage home wares from France, as well as jewellery and bags from young designers and small business across Australia and from around the world.

Underway for 2013, Bleeker Street Vintage is working on creating their own designs inspired from vintage clothing and with sustainability at the forefront of their aspirations.

3205 South Melbourne Magazine supports new businesses and asks that you show your support by visiting the new guys on the block at Bleeker Street Vintage.

Visit Jason and the crew at SO:ME Space in South Melbourne Market or visit their website www.bleeckerstreet-vintage.com or www.facebook.com/Bleeckerstreetvintage

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FEBRUARY 2013

3205 SOUTH MELBOURNE

GASWORKS BACKYARD Gasworks CINEMA RETURNS Backyard Cinema Gasworks Arts Park presents

Gasworks Backyard Cinema has returned to the luscious Gasworks Arts Park for its third outdoor cinema season this summer. Held every Friday at dusk until March 1st, the Gasworks Backyard Cinema features a collection of films, spanning across family greats, five star spectaculars and Australian marvels.

Only a short distance for South Melbourne residents and workers, this dog and bike friendly BYO event offers concession priced tickets to anyone who cycles to the park.

Gasworks’ resident café Priscilla Jones will be firing up the Priscilla Jones Barbeque at each screening, so be sure to head to the park early to grab a prime location and a snag.

SILENT Award-winning Irish play Silent arrives in Melbourne for a strictly limited season from 7-10 February 2013.

A touching one-man tour de force written and performed by Irishman Pat Kinevane, Silent combines movement and monologue with an inventive soundscape to create a wistful and lyrical telling of a life once filled with splendid things.

Through the romantic world of his namesake, silent movie star Rudolph Valentino, ‘Tino’ McGoldrig recalls with dark humour and poignant observation, the life events that triggered his descent from a man of means to a homeless man bereft of belongings and possibly his mind.

A 21-year veteran of Irish theatre, Kinevane paces Silent to mirror the timing and rhythm of old silent movies.

Quick action and lingering reaction combine with a wildly expressive visage and a mastery of storytelling through movement and physicality.

Created as an In Development showcase at the 2010 Dublin Theatre Festival, Silent wowed audiences on its extensive Irish tour, and internationally in Europe and the USA.

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WHEN: Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 February WHERE: Southbank Theatre, The Lawler - 140 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank TICKETS: mtc.com.au or 8688 0800

Enjoy summer nights with Gasworks Arts Park and take part in the third fabulous season of Gasworks Backyard Cinema!

WHERE: Gasworks Arts Park Cnr Graham & Pickles Street, Albert Park

18 Jan — 1 Mar 2013

1 FEBRUARY 2013 The Sapphires (PG) 8 FEBRUARY 2013 Best in Show (PG) 15 FEBRUARY 2013 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (M) 22 FEBRUARY 2013 Hugo (PG) 1 MARCH 2013 Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows (M)

PRICES: $18 Adult / $15 Concession / Group Bookings 6+ No alcohol in the park after 8pm BOOKINGS: Online Bookings: www.gasworks.org.au PHONE BOOKINGS: 03 9699 3253 (+bf) Tickets and program info is available via www.gasworks.org.au

TAKE IN ....

‘SOUVENIR’ A fantasia on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins –

by Stephen Temperley ‘Souvenir‘ premiered on Broadway in 2007, winning a Tony Nomination. The New York Daily News reported that it was ‘hilarious and deeply touching’. Variety called it ‘a beguiling comic jewel with a heart’, while the New York Times described it as ‘an unexpectedly gentle and affecting comedy’.

You have the opportunity to see ‘Souvenir‘ at Chapel on Chapel Theatre from February 20 until March 10 before the show departs for its Sydney season.

‘Souvenir’ is the story of Floence Foster Jenkins, the so called Diva of Din, society warbler and one of New York’s most treasured and unique personalities of the 1940’s. Written by Stephen Temperley and directed by Peter J Adams, it tells of the real-life collaboration between Mrs Jenkins and her real life accompanist and reluctant admirer, pianist Cosme McMoon.

Jenkins and McMoon share an interesting collaraboration to say the least and one you should not miss! ‘Souvenir’ promises to be a hysterical and yet charming beguiling night at the theatre – do enjoy!

WHEN: Feb 20 – March 10 WHERE: Chapel off Chapel TICKETS: From $39 -$49 BOOKINGS: 8290 7000 or chapeloffchapel.com.au

3205 SOUTH MELBOURNE

SOUTH MELBOURNE ICON FINDS A NEW HOME The Butterfly Club announced last month it had achieved its $130,000 target to relocate from its South Melbourne location to the city centre.

The majority of the funds raised came from two arts foundations as well as a critical $23,700 raised from hundreds of fans following a six week crowd-funding campaign.

The Butterfly Club’s (Mr) Simone Pulga said “The success of this campaign means Melbourne will now get a brand-spanking new 80seat theatre in the heart of the city, plus ‘activate’ another little known laneway (Carson Place), adding to Melbourne’s vibrant laneway culture”.

The Ron and Margaret Dobell Foundation said “We established our foundation primarily to support emerging artists through education and training and the development of performance opportunities. The Butterfly Club has a reputation for being the career starting point for so many of our top performers and is a practical example of putting these aims into practice through its generous support of young and emerging artists.”

“We are delighted to put the name of the Ron and Margaret Dobell Foundation to supporting the club in order to

preserve this iconic venue which is such an important part of the Melbourne and Australian cabaret scene.”

Representing The Campbell Foundation, Trustee Gavin Wright said “The cabaret scene is significantly underrepresented in arts funding programs so we’re proud to help fill this critical gap by supporting an arts institution that has for so long nurtured and encouraged the cabaret art form.”

The crowd-funding campaign saw thousands of fans spread the word and hundreds more buying a diverse range of exclusive experiences and kitsch items donated by the cabaret community.

The Butterfly Club remains operating from 5pm nightly (except Mondays) at 204 Bank Street, South Melbourne for only a couple of weeks before relocating to the city.

The Butterfly Club will present a series of events to highlight its relocation including

Cabaret hosts Australia’s largest collection of kitsch and is celebrated for its cocktails and quirkiness. The Club launches more new shows than any other venue in Australia, and is renowned as a Melbourne icon around the world. So you’d expect it would take The Butterfly Club a few weeks to get everything juuuust right before its metamorphosis is complete.

The upcoming Cocoon Cabaret season begins on Saturday 16 February through to the start of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival on Wednesday 27 March. Guest acts include: • Spanky (UK) who will launch both the venue and a national tour on Sat 16 Feb • Joanna Weinberg (South Africa), 16 & 17 Feb • Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey (New York), 25 Feb to 3 March • David Raleigh (New York), 28 Feb & 1 March • Mindy Button (UK), 18 to 24 March

A Final Countdown Gala on Friday 8 February and a final show on Sunday 10 February, Sammy J & Randy’s Eviction Party.

The Cocoon Cabaret season will get underway this February with a fabulous line up of international guests. Cocoon

The Butterfly Club will relocate to 256 Collins Street, Melbourne. Enter from Carson Place -rear laneway off Little Collins St. Bookings and information: thebutterflyclub.com

COMING SOON TO SOUTH MELBOURNE Convenience + Culture

We fit with your busy schedule and on-the-go lifestyle.

With us, you can workout when it’s best for you - day or night!

Our clubs are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Please call Karolina on 0416 092 950 or register interest in the foundation memberships by emailing us at southmelbourne@anytimefitness.com.au Find us on facebook

FEBRUARY 2013

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