Page 10 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, March 4, 2015
www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
Love This City! with with
Food, Wine Festival ■ The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival kicked off last week offering hundreds of opportunities to tantalise our tastebuds. This festival continues to expand as Melburnians year on year indulge in 17 days of culinary adventures. The festival started in 1993 with a program of just 12 events. Last year 386 food and wine businesses across Melbourne and Victoria welcomed more than 200,000 people for a vibrant celebration of food and wine that highlighted Melbourne as Australia’s gastronomic capital. The 2015 festival got underway on Friday with the World’s Longest Lunch held in the Fitzroy Gardens for a mere 1608 guests. Shane Delia, from Maha, Melbourne, created the entree and main course while Adriano Zumbo, from Adriano Zumbo Patissier, Melbourne, masterminded a sweet delight for dessert. One of my favourite elements of the festival is the ever-popular Restaurant Express series. This year more than 80 leading eateries in Victoria have signed up and are offering a tempting lunch special of two courses and a glass of wine for just $40. I love sitting down with friends and plotting which restaurants we will try. We have favourites that we return to each year, but we also love to venture to venues we have not previously experienced. Restaurants participating this year include No35 at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, Bistro Vue, Gingerboy, Pei Modern, The Deck, Cecconi’s, Maha, Gazi, Circa, Cafe Di Stasio, Lamaro’s, Matteo’s, La Luna, Estelle, Hellenic Republic – Kew, Union Food and Wine, and Woodland House. There are so many to choose from 17 days just does not seem long enough! Go to www.melbournefoodandwine. com.au to plan your Restaurant Express adventures. The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival runs until March 15. ● Fiona Byrne is a former journalist and is the Public Relations Manager at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins. Fiona@fionabyrne.com.au
Fiona Byrne Guest Columnist
Di Rolle reports in on:
In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited ■ I always loved the theme music to Twin Peaks. In fact I always have a pen and paper with me when I am watching television to write down the music I hear on programs and in movies, writes Di Rolle. It started when I used to watch The Sopranos, which was full of such great music. Other favourites of mine were the music played on the movies Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet and Eraserhead. How brilliant they were and how different. All these movies and the popular murder mystery TV series Twin Peaks have one thing in common, the music was written by the bril-
liant David Lynch. So it was a great plus for me to find out that a landmark tribute to the legendary filmmaker behind Twin Peaks and all these wonderful soundtracks is coming to Melbourne. A stellar cast is bringing David Lynch’s hauntingly beautiful music to life in In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited. Delving deep into the musical mind behind these amazing pieces of music and more, In Dreams makes its Australian premiere following London’s critically acclaimed Barbican Centre debut. Submerging audiences in the legendary film maker’s mystifying
soundtracks and skewed pop songs, In Dreams features a stellar lineup of performers including Mick Harvey, Sophia Brous, Cibo Matto, Camille O’Sullivan and the brilliant baroque indi rock composer Owen Pallett. Despite airing for only two seasons from 1990 to 1992, Twin Peaks cemented itself as a pop culture phenomenon. Its distinctive blend of cinema, mystery, provocation, humour and science fiction was ground-breaking for the era and so was the music. The spellbinding dream-like synths of composer Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch’s mu-
sical partner, mesmerised viewers. I, like millions of viewers, recall tuning in to watch and wonder “who killed Laura Palmer?” The brainchild of musical director David Coulter (Tom Waits’ Rain Fogs revisited and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy Live) I look forward to going and immersing myself into the mood and atmosphere of Lynch’s universe at Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited is presented by the Melbourne Recital Centre on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17 at 7.30pm. For bookings phone 9699 3333 or www.melbournerecital.com.au
Radio pair’s beer blast
Joel Creasey’s Melbourne hurricane ■ Rising comedy star Joel Creasey just gets better and better, writes Di Rolle: “I have followed his career for years since the first time I met him through a mutual friend on a street in Port Melbourne. Brilliant on stage in his comedy performances, he is as far as I can see stealing the show on Network Ten’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Anyone watching the show will agree with me - he is witty, camp and smart as a whip. “You would have to get up early, as my mother used to say, to pull the wool over his eyes. He doesn’t miss a trick. An Australian stand-up comic, born in Perth, he first attempted stand-up comedy at the age of 15. He knew he was talented, he wanted to be famous from that age, and he knew he could do it. He came out to his much loved family and friends in 2007, when he was 16. He was a student at Wesley College when he decided to drop out and focus on his career as a stand-up comedian. “From when he first entered Raw Comedy in Perth and made it through to the state finals, he has not looked back. He came to Melbourne in 2010 making his debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a show entitled Slumber Party. “I think he is a genius, one out of the box as they say! I think he will win I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and there will be no holding him back. Joel will perform his new show The Hurricane at the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival for 24 shows commencing March 26 to April 19. For tickets contact Ticketmaster on 1300 660 013.”
■ Gold 104.3’s Breakfast team of Brigitte Duclos and Anthony Lehmann fulfilled one of their life-long dreams last week, launching their very own beer. Named Liquid Gold, the beet was launched at the Harbour Town Hotel in the Docklands with hundreds of Gold listeners in attendance. Naturally the guests all enjoyed a pop or two of the beer to make sure it passed the taste test. What started as a dream for Brig and Lehmo became a reality thanks to 2 Brothers Brewery who helped them with their special recipe. The beer was named after a suggestion from a listener. Melbourne-based MKR contestants Camilla Counsel and Ash Pollard did the official taste test and launch, deeming it a good brew. Chantoozies singer Tottie Goldsmith also joined Brig and Lehmo for the launch, along with her father, Melbourne nightclub legend, Brian Goldsmith who recently celebrated his 83rd birthday. ● Left: Camilla Counsel and Ash Pollard help launch the Liquid Gold brand at the Harbour Town Hotel. ● Right: Brian and Tottie Goldsmith helped support the Liquid Gold launch. Photo: Fiona Hamilton
‘Shifting Gear’ exhibition at Fed Square ■ Car lovers will be flocking to the National Gallery of Victoria’s Australian Galleries at Federation Square for the Shifting Gear: Design, Innovation and the Australian Car exhibition. This exhibition opens on Friday and is sure to delight anyone with an interest in vehicles or design. The exhibition of cars is a first for a major Australian art institution. Shifting Gear celebrates Australia’s important and proud history of automobile design and engineering and reflects on the heyday of the Australian car industry. It also looks to the future of the automobile industry in this country and the shift from manufacturing, which has primarily serviced a local
market, to being a global contributor through specialist expertise. It traces the development of the family car from its earliest form, as a steam-powered ‘horseless carriage’, through to its present-day role as a major design object and highly refined and efficient means of transport. It presents the stories behind the development of some of the great Australian vehicles and reveals the designers who styled them. It also considers the significant contribution Australian designers and engineers have made, and continue to make, to the car industry through specialist design capacity and expert knowledge. Shifting Gear: Design, Innovation and the Australian Car runs from March 6-July 12, at the NGVAustralia.