BMA Mag 338 26 Nov 2009

www.bmamag.com

TIM MINCHIN

BANG GANG DJS #338NOV25

YEAH YEAH YEAHS Falling for you

ALLIANCE

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¡Hola! Tenemos cosas gratis! Si quieres algo, escribir a editorial@bmamag.com

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y buena suerte, amigo!

1 Hola Mi Amigo!

The Hola Mexico Film Festival is back in Australia where it all began, and creator Samuel Douek is ready to unleash his fourth program into cinemas across the country. Once again the program reflects the maturity of Mexican cinema, and includes many of the most popular and awarded Mexican films of the past year. “Mexican films are artistic, raw and alive,” says Douek. “They carry stories that are not easy to find from another country”. The vibrant program is once again screening at Dendy Cinemas Canberra from Friday November 27 to Sunday November 29. The full program is available from www. holamexicoff.com or www. dendy.com.au. We’ve got ten double passes to give away. All you need do is tell us something hilarious – in Spanish.

2 Love You Lang Time Jeff Lang truly is a musician’s musician. The ARIA Awardwinning singer- songwriter is one of Australia’s most phenomenal guitarists, and continues to defy and blur the lines of folk, rock, blues, experimental and world music once again with his transcendent and iconic new album, Chimeradour. Recorded by legendary producer Mark Opitz (Cold Chisel, INXS, AC/ DC, Divinyls), this is Lang’s 16th masterpiece to date. We have five copies to give away. To win, tell us about your favourite Australian male artist.

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2 3 Nowhere Man Nowhere Boy is the story of John Lennon’s childhood. Just imagine... a lonely teenager, curious and sharp, growing up in the shattered city of Liverpool.

Two incredible women clash for his love. Mimi (Kristin ScottThomas), the formidable aunt who raised him, and Julia (AnneMarie Duff), the spirited mother who gave him up. Yearning for a normal family, John (Aaron Johnson) escapes into music.

His fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the young Paul McCartney. But just as John’s new life begins, the truth about his past leads to a tragedy he would never escape. Poignant and powerful, Nowhere Boy is the untold story of the boy who created The Beatles. We have ten double in-season passes to give away. Just tell us your favourite Lennon song and why.

4 Rock On Re-live the hilarity of the complete third season of the Golden Globe award-winning 30Rock. Tina Fey is back as Liz Lemmon who must balance the pressures of being head writer on a wildly successful

4 television show, and stroking the ego of her arrogant and eccentric boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). What ensues can only be described as chaos.

From topless break-dancing to geriatric kidnapping, bird murder, sexual espionage, Appalachian witchcraft, patricide, gay lion tattoos and important life lessons learned from sasquatches, 30Rock season three takes viewers on a hilarious and unpredictable ride. We’ve got seven copies to throw your way. Simply tell us about your fav TV series.

5 America’s Most Wanted Acclaimed film maker Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider, Ali) directs Hollywood heavyweights Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard in Public Enemies, the story of Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger. It’s 1933 – America’s Golden Age of crime. Fuelled by cheap liquor and fast cars, bank robbers and gunslingers cut a murderous, cash-snatching dash through the US – and became legends.

Public Enemies is the true story of America’s most wanted, their

6 nemesis, J. Edgar Hoover and his strong-arm law enforcers, the FBI. Public Enemy #1 was the infamous John Dillinger (Depp), who led a series of high profile bank robberies and prison breaks. We’ve got seven copies of the DVD to give away. Simply tell us about your favourite gangster.

6 Just Joshin’ Sydney-based songsmith Josh Pyke has just released his first DVD, The Lighthouse, through Ivy League. The main feature is a brand new Storytellersstyle doco where, against the picturesque backdrop of the Norah Head lighthouse and surrounds on the NSW Central Coast, Josh examines ten selections from his back catalogue, expounding on the inspiration and stories behind some of his best known tunes. To supplement this, the DVD also collects all of Josh’s music videos to date, a film of his sold-out performance at Sydney’s Metro Theatre last year and enough hidden extras to satiate the most ravenous of fans. To win one, give us your interpretation of one of Josh’s songs.

Most of us can define the fashion legacy left by each passing decade.

From pop art to electric guitars, the ‘60s was minimal and classic; the ‘70s was wide with ties, car bonnets and yacht rock egos; fluoro, punk and synth pop made the ‘80s loud and clashy while even the ‘90s scraped in with an identity of alienated grunge and the internet. As we close the account on the zeroes, one may ask what this decade will be remembered for. In a time when it can feel like it’s all been done, will our sample heavy practices forge an original aesthetic? Will our creations be more than the sum of their influences, or will we be lost out to sea amidst a map of reference points?

Each decade is influenced by the one previous, using it as a platform to rebel against. Whereas the ‘90s was one big Gen-X grizzle (see: Reality Bites) against the commercialised ‘80s, in the ‘00s we seemed to have lightened up and accepted the corporate nature of the world we live in. The reality TV boom brought shows like Australian Idol, where major music companies lifted the lid on their money-driven mechanisations, perhaps making themselves a little less threatening in the process. Coupled with online DIY, music fans have never felt more empowered. The net has been described as what radio was in the ‘60s – simply the best place to find new music.

Cobain would have been thrilled. How much would he have loved to pull a Radiohead, and release his albums directly to fans?

In some ways the ‘what’s behind the curtain’ nature of reality television reflects the post-modern* nature of our time.

Everything’s been turned inside out, like a seams-out Stussy top I once owned. Dave Eggers disempowers book reviewers by including an appendix of meanings and symbols, Wes Anderson doesn’t mind you seeing the tacky submarine set, Beck wants you to make your own album cover and The Boosh break themselves down with a special commentary track. All of these ‘gimmicks’ offer to bridge the gap between the audience and the business from which the selfaware artist operates. The smoke and mirrors glamour of the ‘80s has gone, leaving the playfully intelligent, at times defeatist nature of the self-referential.

The ‘00s may be identified by the juxtaposition of technology moving swiftly forward while fashion delves backwards. A vintage owl flies high above the artistic ether as film clips and album covers are drenched in the animated technicolour of yesteryear.

The internet should be again credited for fuelling a wildfire of nostalgia as YouTube brings our collective pop culture history to our fingertips. The design world fixated on stylised animals and story book whimsy which the advertising industry soon leeched upon.

Perhaps the trend to surround ourselves with idealised nostalgia is a pacifier against the daily glut of doomsday terror and ‘think of the children’ enviro-guilt. It’s in this ‘make it look/sound old school’ mentality, that we run the biggest risk of leaving behind no greater style legacy than an undergraduate DJ set of our peers. Pitchfork recently claimed Radiohead’s Kid A was the last ‘retro free’ album.

Never before have we been so in touch with our past and each other, but age old traditions like helplessness and disconnection live on.

We still can’t change the world in the ways we’d like, but we can always change ourselves. If ever there was a modern day website to hang your hat on it’d be Miranda July’s learningtoloveyoumore.com .

Meanwhile, maybe next decade will see a ‘70s revival, as in the 1870s... pantaloons anyone? * I’ll be the first to admit I don’t really know what it means.

JUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD www.bedroomphilosopher.com Justin performs as The Bedroom Philosopher and writes for Frankie, Jmag and The Big Issue.

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Have You Ever, Ever Felt Like This?

This used to be a funhouse. Now it’s a 400 apartment housing complex.

# 3 3 8 N O V 2 5 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko T: 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Ashish Doshi T: 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Sales Executive Danika Nayna T: 0408 657 939 Super Sub Editor Josh Brown Graphic Design Ben Backhouse Exhibitionist Editor Naomi Milthorpe Film Editor Mark Russell Principle Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman John Hatfield NEXT ISSUE 338 OUT DEC 9 EDITORIAL DEADLINE NOV30 ADVERTISING DEADLINE DEC 3 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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The National Film and Sound Archive recently launched the redesigned and expanded web resource australianscreen online. Now located at www. aso.gov.au, it offers access to a wide range of moving image material and encompasses nearly 1400 Australian film and television titles from the last 110 years, represented with clips, curator’s notes and additional information. An ep or two of Round the Twist anyone? They’re all there! The resource has also gone interactive, creating a host of places for site visitors to contribute. There’s also trivia and competitions, film reviews, and a whole lot more.

I Was So Wasted Blatherskite’s fourth full length album, Where the Wasteland Ends, represents a new and vastly matured juxtaposition; a dirty blend of industrial rock and metal, punctuated with tonguein-cheek self deprecation and woven together with sinuously atmospheric passages delivered with a gleeful intensity. They’re hitting Canberra on Thursday November 26 at The Basement and The Pot Belly the very next day with Entropy Within, Never Trust a Bunny, Pergamum, Red Bee and more. www. blatherskite.com.au .

Bloody Moovellous Touring regional music event Groovin the Moo is going from strength to strength, countryside to seaside and expanding far and wide across Oz, and, yay for us, the GTM 2010 tour diary includes Canberra.

With a growing reputation for boasting a unique atmosphere and a consistently exciting lineup (from both Australia and O/S), GTM will feature two main stages and the huge Moolin Rouge circus big top playing home to the dance tent. The diverse tastes and needs of all punters will be catered for with a large variety of local food and

market stalls along with licensed bar facilities, slingshot rides, and chill out areas. Head to GTM at UC on Sunday May 9 2010.

Choose Life With all shows already sold out, Lifeline is giving music fans around Australia the chance to win a double pass to a 2010 Big Day Out. As a part of Lifeline’s Upbeat initiative, people can win tickets to the Big Day Out simply by sending an SMS to 19 19 18.

To enter, text the word Lifeline, your name and postcode to 19 19 18 by midnight Wednesday December 31 to win a double pass to the BDO in your nearest capital city. For all the details visit www.lifeline.org.au/ upbeat. Anyone can call Lifeline any time, any day, on 13 11 14.

WRAAAARGH! Ever wanted to watch a bunch of beefy guys in tight pants slap each other around? Who wouldn’t!? Canberra’s Pro Wrestling Alliance (PWA) is back for another round of highly skilled belting and you’re invited to get involved. Boo the heals and cheer the faces (that’s wrestling speak for ‘bad guys’ and ‘good guys’) as they perform a high energy show complete with dramatic storylines and manoeuvres that’ll make you go “ouch”. Entry is a tiny $5 for children and $10 for big kids.

It’s on at the Woden Traides on Saturday December 12.

Tech House After the success of Matt Rowan in October, Effigy Entertainment returns to deliver you a night of epic proportions – one of Australia’s greatest progressive house exports, Jaytech. Come and enjoy Jaytech up close and personal at the only Canberra show of the Australian leg of his world tour. It’ll be jaw-droppingly awesome music in a unique and intimate setting, so come along and be part of what is bound to be an unforgettable experience, all for only $10! Limited tickets available on the door.

Generating inclusion GENERATE canberra arts access network, a nifty little networking project supporting disabled and disadvantaged artists, kicks off with a gig brought to you by the ACT Community Arts Office and CMC, supported by Music For Everyone. The super charged first act, MFEs Rock Academy youth bands will bring you out of your Friday afternoon, then settle in for an evening of TJ James, Johnny Huckle, Big Score and Dub Dub Goose, and holding it all together will be MC Robin Davidson. Friday November 27, 7pm at Ainslie Arts Centre. BBQ and bar. www.generate.net.au .

Star Struck Mikelangelo (pictured) of Mikelangelo and The Black Sea Gentlemen fame returns with his new band The Tin Star, featuring expats Pete and Fiete and Gareth Hill. After years of traversing the globe to great acclaim with The Black Sea Gentlemen and La Clique, the charming coiffured crooner Mikelangelo has returned to Australia making Melbourne his home. The logical step was to put together a Melbourne-based group, and he has wasted no time in doing this. The tunes are all Mikelangelo originals, the style is resolutely surf ‘n’ Western, with plenty of twanging instrumental tunes and sordid tales of love, death and despair. They play The Merry Muse at the Polish Club on Friday December 4, supported by Mr. Fibby. $17/$14. facebook.com/ thetinstar .

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another

YOU PISSED ME OFF!

thing…

When we finally locate the Hotel Preciados VIP (which, despite being slap bang in the middle of Madrid, is a surprisingly tricky place to find), the lady wife and myself are hot, bothered and at the wrong end of nearly 48 hours of travel.

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

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings]

Imagine, then, our horror when the doleful looking man at the reception desk greets me with the following.

To the daughters of scum who assaulted my dear friend last night, for the mere fact that she defended herself from being arse-grabbed by your Neanderthal boyfriends: you disgust me. I would tell you to get a life, but I have no doubt whatsoever that fate will deliver you a shitty one anyway, filled with crack-whore babies, ugly douchebag bling and tacky handbags. People like you make me reconsider my position on eugenics.

“Ah, Señor Adams, there’s been a small problem – the hotel this week is very busy and so… the room you had booked with us… we have unfortunately had to give it to someone else.”

I don’t bother turning to look at TLW, whom I know to be an excellent expositor of the ‘face like thunder,’ having seen it on countless occasions as I extricate myself from her shoe cupboard, into which I’ve blundered in the small hours thinking I’ve reached the lavatory, and simply search the Spaniard’s face in hope of a small crumb of comfort. Of course, I find none, as the man bears a curiously expressionless visage at all times. He begins to speak again before I have the chance to utter some classic Anglo-Saxon invective.

“Instead we have reserved for you the suite on the sixth floor. I am sorry that we have inconvenienced you, and hope you will still enjoy your stay with us.”

We complete the signing in formalities and get into the lift. The ‘suite on the sixth floor’ turns out to be just that. The lift doors open, disgorging us onto OUR OWN FLOOR, replete with its own roof terrace looking out towards Madrid’s Cathedral, Opera House and the Royal Palace, flat screen tellies everywhere, all seemingly tuned into 24-hour football channel Canal+, A FREE MINI BAR, a spa bath, A BIDET, and glass see-through sinks! Opening my Spanish phrase book, I note that “hemos aterrizado en nuestros pies aquí, mi estimado”* and we get on with the task of enjoying our Spanish mini-break.

Enjoyment comes easy in Madrid. It’s a fantastic place; one of the great European Capital cities, compact and choc-full of interesting stuff to do. Over the next three days I drink interesting Spanish beers in unlikely places (in particular an Irish pub screening Dutch football in the middle of some old tenement-style housing where nobody seems to speak English whatsoever), the wife samples the best that Spanish retail has to offer and we meet up to take a turn around the Prado (Madrid’s splendid Museum of Art where I fulfil a dream of twenty-odd years and finally get to stand near works

by Poussin, Bosch and Breughel) and a bracing three-quarter hour row around the lake of El Parque del Retiro. Each day starts with a sumptuous four-course breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, and ends with a splendid meal (usually steak-based) in one of the city’s excellent restaurants, and our three days there come to an all-toosoon end. Our last Euros spent, we regretfully head for the airport for the final outbound leg of our journey to the Motherland, and, after another wasted half hour negotiating another set of different security criteria (seemingly whilst it’s not okay to take booze out of Australia in your hand luggage, it’s fine here, whilst shoe removal is apparently only something required in Korea), we sit and get ready to board our British Airways flight to London Gatwick. We don’t know it yet, but we’re only an hour or so away from witnessing a sesame-seed fuelled riot in mid air… More next time. *”we’ve landed on our feet here, dear” scott adams thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

To my dear office mate, I want to pull my eyeballs out and stuff them in my ears! Why do you have to give me a play by play account of what you are viewing on the internet? Can you not make selections on a drop down list or look at a map without telling me? SHUT-the fuck-UP! Thoughts are for the inside of your head you moron!

You Piss Me Off! Fuck!

FROM THE BOSSMAN One of the most delightful and rewarding things you can do as a writer is to make yourself laugh. Looking back over old work and finding yourself tittering (or guffawing for the more manly among us) at some half-forgotten witticism that your tremendously clever, most likely alcohol-soaked brain had conjured up some time in the past is a great joy. It’s like a selfadministered shot of codeine to the writer’s vein. ‘Hey, I’m a bit of alright after all,’ you think, head swimming with warm, fuzzy adjectives. ‘If I’m my toughest critic, and I can make myself laugh, I must be doing something right.’

Writers often spend too much time alone, by the way. Not me, though. I’m a sexual panther.

ANYway, I often like to harness this forgetful effect when leaving reminders to myself. Allan of Past is a wily git, you see. He could just leave a note to Future Allan saying ‘Don’t forget to buy milk on the way home’, but normally prefers leaving something along the lines of ‘Don’t forget the milk. You fucking twat.’

I recommend it. Stirs the blood. Gets you into the action. Will probably make you laugh. Because if you’re gonna take shit from someone, it might as well be yourself, right?

ALLAN “REMEMBER TO WASH YOUR PANTS, YOU ARSE” SKO

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WHO: Masters Of Beats WHAT: Good Hope Bikini & Boardshorts Festival (24hr Charity event) WHERE: Good Hope Tourist Resort, Yass NSW WHEN: 30 January 2010

The M.O.B. (Masters Of Beats) consist of five DJs/producers that have played in various clubs from Sydney to Canberra including Candy’s Apartment in Sydney and Lot 33 in Canberra plus many more.

Whilst dabbling in producing, their major focus is to organise large events while their ongoing focus is playing in clubs Australia wide.

Their most recent project is the Good Hope Bikini & Boardshort Festival located near Yass NSW. Their objective with the event is to promote local talent and support local businesses by raising as much money as possible for the NSW Rural Bush Fire Service.

WHO: THE SPIRITS WHAT: INTENSE, ETHEREAL ROCK WHEN: THURS NOV 26 WHERE: ANU BAR

Following on from a recording stint at Big Jesus Burger and a slew of packed out shows in Sydney, including the launch of new single The Other Half on Halloween at Spectrum, The Spirits head south on tour.

For the first time Canberra will hear The Spirits’ intense, ethereal songs on Thursday November 26 at ANU. Also on tour with The Spirits are fellow independent Sydney band, Decorated Generals, with local supports Kasha and Rubycon rounding out the show.

The Spirits will be giving away the single for free to promote their forthcoming debut EP The Other Half (released March 2010). For details, go to www.thespirits.com.au .

WHO: WATERFORD WHAT: DEBUT EP LAUNCH WHEN: SAT DEC 5 WHERE: THE FRONT

They say being in a band is a good way to spend your 20s. The members of Waterford wouldn’t know, as they took up indie rock at an age when most musicians are running away from the circus to take up accountancy. Thankfully they still have the hairlines, and tunes, to pull this whole rock and roll caper off. Think of what your older brothers with the good record collections would have sounded like if they had have formed a band. Waterford launch their eponymous debut EP at The Front on Saturday December 5 with Voss and the poet CJ. 7.30pm.

WHO: CHARGE GROUP, ...LIKE FOXES AND FRIENDS WHAT: ...LIKE FOXES CD LAUNCH WHEN: SAT DEC 5, 4PM WHERE: TRANSIT BAR

Comprising three former members of acclaimed Sydney band Purplene and violinist Jason Tampake (of Firekites/Josh Pyke band), Charge Group are finally making their Canberra debut! Joining them will be local indie four-piece ...Like Foxes - who fall somewhere between Minus the Bear and American Football - launching their highly-anticipated EP. Also supporting are Triple J Unearthed winners Hoodlum Shouts and alt-country group Voss, who’ve just released their LP The Inland Sea. It’s an early afternoon show with the first band on at 4pm, so make the most of this weather and head out early!

WHO: THE WEDDED BLISS, CHRIS HARLAND BLUES BAND AND MORE WHAT: ALOHA! BLUES AND ROOTS HAWAII FUNDRAISER WHEN: SUN DEC 6, 1-7PM WHERE: HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

A fun Sunday arvo with much loved local bands playing six hours of roots, alt country, blues, jazz, jams and who knows what else, a cover charge that’s impossibly reasonable (donation), a chance to unashamedly wear your Hawaiian shirt (we know you have one), all to support cancer patients and their families. Sounds like a good deal to us. This is the seventh annual Aloha! Blues & Roots Hawaii charity gig, and it’s hosted by Bucky at Holy Grail Kingston, complete with Hawaiian pizzas ($5 donated per pizza).

Will The Wedded Bliss really show up in Hawaiian shirts? More info including band times at www.guythesoundguy.com .

WHO: Overheard Productions WHAT: Live Music, Baby WHEN: Next Few Fridays WHERE: Holy Grail, Civic

You want labels? Go to the Mega Dome! Everyone’s allowed in here and you get great, solid, driving music with a great beat, and dancing to boot. On Friday Nov 27, experience the unbridled joy of Supernova, To Be Confirmed and The Feldons, and all for a mere ten of your earth dollars. Or FREE for fans and friends of Overheard Productions who head to our Facebook or MySpace site and who answer the famous four questions. It’s going off, it’s going on, and you can be there when it all starts. Bring two pairs of dancing shoes; one pair just ain’t enough.

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show their bones katy hall I like to think we’d follow Karen O and her male compatriots anywhere, wouldn’t you? I know I sure as hell would. The YEAH YEAH YEAHS’ hard and fast burst onto the scene in the early 2000s surely left everyone panting along for more of their ferocious tunes. In the almost nine years since their formation, the leotards got brighter, the howls found some harmony, the drums were angrier and the guitars kept you hanging on for dear life.

That is until earlier in the year, when the group’s latest offering, It’s Blitz!, came along and changed all of that, leaving a look of shock on our faces, but for a totally different reason.

“I really hate it when people say we made a ‘dance album’ like it’s this betrayal, or a bad thing,” says Nick Zinner, guitarist-cumsynth-player of the trio. With a slightly defensive tone he adds “all our albums are dance albums; it’s just a different type of dancing.

“Before we recorded I hadn’t even had that much to do with synths; some remixing stuff, but I bought it off eBay maybe two weeks before we went in and just decided to bring it along. In hindsight I’m glad I did.”

With Brian Chase banging on skins for hours, Zinner twisting and tinkering away, and O taking it away to play with and write melodies, the album was a fractioned process creating a more layered effect than previous albums. “We just holed up in a barn and laid the first part down. All you could see was snow, everywhere,” he recalls. “For the final takes we went just outside El Paso and did the rest in the desert. Getting the album to a point where we released it was long, but I’m really proud of what we made and it’s finally at a point where I enjoy playing those songs live.”

Making a trip to Australia for the Falls Festival and a slew of other dates around the nation, it will be the first time the trio have been together in several months. “Taking time out is something that’s really important for us, especially Karen. So she’s not always writing songs about being sad and lonely out on the road,” he laughs.

While Chase has been busy earning himself a spot as one of the top 50 drummers in the world and Zinner pursues his other project, mathcore band Head Wound City, O has been busy working with The Kids on the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack. A busy year indeed.

“It’s really nice to just go our own ways and then come back together as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It’s not solely what identifies us.

I can’t imagine what the pressures of being a lead singer are, I’m just a guitarist in a band.”

When asked the typical question of what the future holds for the band, Zinner answers simply “who knows? No one can predict those things, but in terms of making another album and where we’ll go with it, we’ll always want to do new things and take our sound somewhere else.

We got together when dancing was illegal in New York, to command people to move.” And command they did. With the play-on-words name coming straight from the New York vernacular, Yeah Yeah Yeahs overhauled the stiff grunge gig-goers and turned them into a sweaty, thrashing mess.

I’m really proud of what we made

It’s Blitz! found the band in their early thirties and in need of a change of territory. The now famous foray saw an abandonment of Zinner’s guitars and found replacements with a synth and some acoustic guitars instead. The change of direction saw a jump on the disco resurrection bandwagon, but in true Yeah Yeah Yeahs style; the record still holds their delectable originality that people flock toward and cram their iPods with.

When asked about the shift Zinner concedes “I wouldn’t say it was something I enjoyed, but it was essential. It was something that needed to happen for us to be happy with what we made. We can’t keep making the same albums,” Zinner admits frankly. “We’re not the type of people that are happy staying totally safe and producing the same albums. As musicians we always want to go somewhere else.

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“If we continued to make the same records we wouldn’t even be coming to Australia or travelling the world. And I think we would have quit doing it a long time ago too. I feel incredibly lucky to be doing what I’m doing, though there’s different things that come along with being in a band for so long. It makes life interesting when people start recognising you and you’re getting shit yelled at you in the street; good and bad. It definitely makes things interesting.”

When asked if he thinks It’s Blitz! was the cause of all the slamming Zinner remarks “well, most of what they say is good, so I don’t think we pissed off too many people with the last album after all.

But those are all things I stopped thinking about a long time ago.”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing at the sold out Falls Festival over New Year’s and are also playing their own show at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Friday January 8. Tickets are available through Ticketek.

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ALL AGES Hey there, folks. We underage gig-goers have quite the pile of sensational gigs to contemplate attending for the next upcoming months. Being the second last BMA issue of the year, I’ll be trying my absolute best to fill you all in on each and every gig until January. It’s not long now until holiday season, my friends.

Hopefully you’ll plan to make the most of it when it comes.

Homegrown funk/rock band AstroChem are hitting the Woden Youth Centre to celebrate the launch of their brand new EP, with local bands The Sodapops, Goatfish and West Of The Sun. “Where is the cherry on this beyond funky cake?” I hear you ask.

Oh, here it is: for just $12 at the door you are not only granted entry, but given a free copy of

AstroChem’s celebrated EP as well. Keen for a dance or just love free shit? Head on down to the Woden Youth Centre at 6pm on Saturday November 28.

But that’s not all folks; this is for all you jive-turkeys out there.

I have yet another funkadelic lineup for you feel-good vibe seekers. Alternative/funk/rock band Pleased to Jive You will be at the Woden Youth Centre on Friday December 11. You’ll also have another chance to see funky four piece band Goatfish, as well as Slovac and Newcastle band The Great Escape. Like AstroChem’s EP Launch, this is a brilliant chance to forget

your troubles, dance your little heart out and feel purely and genuinely great.

Saturday December 19 will bring to us underage hardcore fans the gutwrenching 2009 Schools Out for Summer Tour.

The lineup features renowned Melbourne hardcore band Deez Nuts and Ghost Inside, who are coming all the way from California, USA. They’ll be supported by Mourning Tide, who only in October released their brand new self-titled album and hardcore/punk band Mark My Words from the Central Coast. Together these bands will present to you a no less than spectacular gig, to be held at the Weston Creek Community Centre. You can purchase tickets from Moshtix for only $17 + booking fee.

Now of course, who could forget about the 2010 Boys of Summer Tour? For the love of god, if you’re interested, get your tickets NOW. All the way from the US of A Every Time I Die are sure to give you a live music experience you will not forget. Also coming to us is US band Trap Them as well as the ever so notorious Australian hardcore band 50 Lions and on top of that is Mary Jane Kelly from Austinmer, NSW. Tickets are $25 + a teensy booking fee from Moshtix outlets.

For the first time in three years, the revolutionary indie/ alternative New Yorker band Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be jetting across the Pacific to attend to their ever accumulating Australian fanbase. Most importantly, they’ve got two all ages gigs. The first being at Festival Hall in Melbourne on Tuesday December 29 and the second at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Friday January 8. Rest assured that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will have the walls pulsating upon every song from their new album It’s Blitz!.

Tickets are on sale now for $75 + booking fee. For Sydney tix are through Ticketek and Melbourne, Ticketmaster.

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

Happy Movember, Canberra! Yes, it’s that time of year again, with newly-moustachioed men at every turn. Our local musos are getting behind this great event, and on Saturday November 28 you can catch Final Lies, Double on Hearts and NSW’s Caleb Skips Chemistry at The Pot Belly’s Movember Fundraiser. Entry is $10 and the proceeds will be used to raise awareness of men’s health issues.

The fun starts at 9pm, and there are prizes for the best and worst Mo, so get your hairy lips over there.

If you prefer tattooed ladies to stubbly men, you’d be better off to the Miss Ink Australia tattoo pageant. Local ladies will be strutting their illustrated stuff at The Basement on Saturday November 28, and Friend or Enemy, Perpetual End, Spoil and Sydney’s Soma will provide the soundtrack. Local favourites Miss Kitka’s House of Burlesque will also make an appearance. Tix are $25 and doors open at 8pm.

Gypsy fanciers will be pleased to learn that Mr Fibby have two local gigs lined up this fortnight. Fibby are joined by Melbourne’s Rapskallion at The Front Gallery from 7.30pm on Wednesday December 2, and will play alongside surf-western Mebournites Mikelangelo and the Tin Star at the Merry Muse from 8pm on Friday December 4.

The finals of this year’s Emergenza Band Comp are being held at the ANU. Get along to The Refectory on Friday December 4 to see sets from some great Canberra and NSW bands. Hannah and Sam, Brave Empire, The Preys and The Heroines are just some of the local acts that have made it to this stage of the competition, so head out there and show these emerging Canberra artists some support.

The Holy Grail in Kingston is hosting Aloha! Blues and Roots Hawaii, an afternoon event which will raise funds for the ACT Eden-Monaro Cancer Support Group. There’s a packed lineup, including local acts The Wedded Bliss, The Chris Harland Blues Band and Leo Joseph’s Key Grip. The gig starts at 1pm on Sunday December 6 and entry is by donation, so give generously.

Cardboard Charlie presents two more jam-packed Bootlegs sessions at the Phoenix this fortnight. You can catch Bears with Guns, Amber Nicholls, The Feldons and Cartesian Discotec on Monday November 30, and Matthew Simpson Morgan, David Bath and The Hot Tubs, Rod Ladgrove and the Eastwoods and Prelucid on Monday December 7. Entry is free and the bands start at 8pm.

CC also teams up with the Canberra Musicians Club to bring Domus Adultus to Hippo. On Thursday November 26, catch Ashley Walsh, The Jason Recliners, The Kevin Windross Band and Clankenstein.

Thursday December 3 will feature Rattis Von Zanzebar, Ben Drysdale and Beth Monzo, Jacquie Nicole and The Blue Ruins. The music starts at 8pm and entry is $7/$5.

That’s it from us for another issue. Have a great fortnight and keep supporting local music.

CATHERINE JAMES locality.bma@hotmail.com

PLEASING JIVE shaun bennett It is the usual band story of four lads meeting in high school and forming a band. But for local all ages sensation PLEASED TO JIVE YOU, their story is not like that of Radiohead, Silverchair or U2. “We started playing only Red Hot Chili Peppers covers then we came up with our own stuff a couple of years later,” frontman Morgan Quinn tells me. “We’ve been playing together since we werere in Year 8 and we’re in Year 12 now.” However, things look set to change for the almost adult youngsters who finish Year 12 in a few weeks.

Once they recovered and rejuvenated audiences from the RHCP covers, the boys then got serious last year and unleashed the outfit and persona that would ultimately become PTJY. In their short tenure, they have garnered support from reviewers and fans alike, including this very publication. A fellow BMA reviewer last year reported “it’s rare that you will stumble upon a band that not only thrives on originality, but is fucking good at it!”

Before every gig we play Super Smash Brothers on Nintendo 64

It seems all this spontaneity originates from the boys’ love of old school video games including Donkey Kong and the various Mario Brothers games. “My first influence was Donkey Kong Country, then my head was filled with Jungle Music, then we’re set,” Quinn says. “All our influences aren’t really musical. Before every gig we play Super Smash Brothers on Nintendo 64.”

The lads have even considered taking the 64 with them to gigs so people can play it while watching. “We’ve thought of having Super Smash Brothers at our gigs, so people can play at the show and get to know where we’re coming from,” Quinn and bassist Jim Nguyen joke.

All this praise and glamour has come all rather quickly for the band, so you’d expect that they would have a CD of some sort. Their MySpace page claimed that it was coming out mid this year. triple j Unearthed claims that it was coming out late this year. But the band are under the impression that it may never come out. “We’ve given up on the idea of the EP being released but it exists none the less,” Quinn says. At this point the boys reveal all of the problems surrounding the release, including the mixing process which involves Morgan’s older brother Hayden Quinn, of Paqman fame. “He’s pretty busy with his own stuff, so it may be a while, we’re sticking to online at the moment.”

Their upcoming show at the Woden Youth Centre is going to be an acoustic set which will see the boys once again play a new role in the originality realm of the band. “I don’t think we even have acoustic guitars,” Quinn jokes.

One way or another Pleased to Jive You will be playing at PC4PC Round 3 at the Woden Youth Centre on Friday December 11 with Slovac, Goatfish and more. Doors open at 6pm.

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DANCE THE DROP When the first details of Foreshore surfaced in July, the event seemed like a millennium away. This is always the case with big events. When the lineup is announced and tickets are purchased it seems forever until you’ll be entering the turnstiles. So you push the event to the corner of your memory. Then, lo and behold, one day it clicks, there are only a few short days to sort your pre-party activities and various mind-altering substances.

Foreshore is impending and the much anticipated set times have been announced. Gates open at 12 and my advice would be to arrive sooner rather than later because big names are on early.

Stereosonic and Foreshore have danced around each other’s schedules to ensure there isn’t a concentration of internationals during the twilight hours. Bring it on!

For those of you with seasoned party stamina there are two big gigs to kick on to after the event. Academy is hosting the Official After Party featuring Fedde Le Grand and Bass Kleph. Buses are heading to the city from Commonwealth Place and before you get too chopped be organised and grab a ticket from the cloak room for the ride. As with past after parties, wrist bands will guarantee cheaper entry. Academy luminary Ashley Feraude is supporting plus locals Offtapia and Nathan Frost.

Pang! is pursuing a more underground approach for its party on Saturday November 28. Renaissance Man (Dubsided) is in Australia from Helsinki on a brief tour during late November and Pang! are graciously hosting the Canberra leg. The two Scandinavians are best known for their recent hit Spraycan as well as remixes for Brodinski and Crystal Fighters. Celebrity Sextape, Tim Tulip, Cheese and Hubert round out the night. Good luck to those who are still standing on Kennedy Street after such a long day!

The week following a festival is always difficult. Fortunately the next instalment of Voodoo’s dub-infused mayhem is Friday December 4. The night is slowly building its reputation at Hippo Bar and Skywalker, Fourthstate, Alibi, Twisted System and Chils are all indulging in their particular style of 2step or drum ‘n’ bass.

Also in the city the same night is Llik Llik Llik’s Up in (Alex) Smoke tour. Alex Smoke has released two minimal techno albums on heavyweight label Soma and will bring to Canberra a formidable three hour live show. Residents Biggie, Alex McLeod, Gabriel Gilmour and Scottie Fischer will be in support.

Sunday December 6 will see the return of Sound Baked Sundays to Trinity Bar. Sydney’s Troublemakers are having their official Canberran Record Label launch with their top producers making the trip down. Trinity playboys The Hump Day Project are headlining, with ex-Canberran Derty Rich, plus Marky Mark and King Lee. The local lineup includes Staky, Cheese and RyFy. Make sure you get there early for the free BBQ which is a world class hangover cure if it’s still lingering from the night before. mi favorito... Foreshore is the jewel in Canberra’s dance music crown. If you haven’t got a ticket, have fun watching Wonder Years re-runs or whatever it is you plan to do, ‘cause you’re missing out.

STAKY staceymanson@gmail.com

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KNOCKOUT PUNCH tim galvin Unlike many of the over-hyped phonic replicas that churn out of the major labels’ magical money grinder, THE BOXER REBELLION have truly been the architects of their own success. A chance meeting in a UK club in 2001 between American vocalist Nathan Nicholson and Australian guitarist Todd Howe led to the formation of one of rock music’s truest ‘indie’ bands. Todd humbly recounts on the secret to their success. “I don’t feel like we have really had our ‘big’ break yet,” he says.

“Playing the new bands tent at the Glastonbury Festival was a good stepping stone for us and definitely increased our fanbase but we have a lot more to achieve before we will feel like we are comfortable.”

Their status as exciting up and coming artists was realised in the indie world through their introductory longplayer Exits in 2005. This was given public affirmation after the digital release of their latest album Union. “Given the way our album came out, it was all very quick,” Todd says. “We sold something like 10,000 copies in the first few weeks which, to us, was absolutely mindblowing! At the time the digital option was all we could afford because we manage ourselves as independent artists.”

Playing at Glastonbury was a good stepping stone for us

Their epic single Evacuate displays a swath of progression from a band finding their feet in their early years to a maturing musical unit who truly have their own destiny in their hands. “We really didn’t want to cover old ground. Your first record is always the one where you are trying to find your own sound and you have all this enthusiasm to get the end product out there where as the follow ups always seem to come from a different point of view,” he says.

Known for their emphatic live performances, the group has completed celebrated tours of Asia, Europe, America and Canada and are currently preparing for their inaugural Aussie mission. “We are preparing for a few European dates and are also working on some new material. Our gig at The Troubadour in the States was unreal; playing to about 450 people is always going to be a good experience.

Our London shows are always amazing and we are looking forward to going back to Japan soon. More importantly though, it’s actually the other guys’ first time in Australia so that’s going to make the experience very special, especially for me!”

The Boxer Rebellion are gearing up to take over the world one sweaty venue at a time, although the million dollar question still lingers – will they ever drop the ‘indie’ tag and sign with a major label? “It’s a bit tough sometimes!” Todd confesses. “We actually recorded the album in the same place we rehearsed because we couldn’t afford a van to take all of our equipment to another venue. We also look after all of our websites, networking sites and merchandise ourselves. It’s getting a bit hard to manage at the moment though having to carry it all around,” he laughs.

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The Boxer Rebellion will play at the Purple Sneakers House Party in Sydney on New Year’s Eve, Thursday December 31. Tickets through Ticketek, Moshtix and Oztix.

drawings,” says Hoodrat. “Mitch Beige is our in-house designer and when I draw something he goes away and makes them look way prettier. I guess it started that way because in the beginning we couldn’t afford anybody to do it for us so I just started drawing stuff.”

GANG OF BANG STAKY Five years ago a group of rambunctious twenty-somethings started a night aptly named BANG GANG at former burlesque bar Moulin Rouge in Sydney. The night revolutionised clubbing with its cutting edge tunes, sexual ambiguity and shameless narcotised mentality. The six creators – Ajax, Jamie Doom, DJ Damage (Beni), Gus Da Hoodrat, Dangerous Dan and Double Nolan – soon achieved stardom on the DJ circuit and in 2005 they started their own label. Speaking with Gus Da Hoodrat about Bang Gang 12 Inches’ new compilation, he reveals much about the release in his signature lighthearted manner.

As with most original creations the The album Bang Gang club night and effortless is more for party antics have spawned numerous listening; it is imitations. From the way the group definitely not a dress to the way they mix, young’uns across the nation have been turning club album their caps to the left and necking bottles of Moet, CD wallet in hand. Hoodrat remains predictably dismissive. “Well, it is flattering that others are continuously purveying the party,” he says. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously and we really aren’t offended by what others do. It is good to see them with the DIY aesthetic and we all hang out and party anyway.

We just keep moving forward.”

The Bang Gang 12 Inches Compilation is being launched by Pang! @ Lot 33 on Friday December 12.

“The label started three-ish years ago and, to be honest, it was a blurry time,” Hoodrat struggles to remember. “We came up with the concept of the album this year.

We have done lots of mix CDs, but this was something new and just focussed on what the label was doing. It probably has a broader audience than before, which should help give it wings. The album is more for listening; it is definitely not a club album. I mean it does still have a dance edge, but it will get into people’s ears in a different context.”

With vanguard signings like Shazam, GLOVES and Soft Tigers, the label has gone from strength to strength. Hoodrat is adamant there is much more in store for the future. “We’re chugging along signing new acts. There are these new guys Cassian from Sydney which I am excited about,” he says.

“We meet some of the acts or we get sent stuff or we come across it by accident. In the beginning it was more hearsay, friends of friends. It is more of a community now.”

The Bang Gang brand is not only acclaimed for its love of good times and fashionable peers, their sketched artwork is as synonymous with the posse as SO ME is with Ed Banger records.

It was the troupe’s humble beginnings which prompted the first use of their minimal drawings.

“I do the artwork – it’s my hand

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Toulouse Lautrec’s The Clown Cha-U-Kao for myself. Stuff that I’ve previously only ever drooled over in books.

The focus in Masterpieces From Paris is on post-impressionism.

Think of music and post-punk. In much the same way as it categorises much of what followed the earth shattering punk movement, post-impression encompasses the work of anarchist artists working after the formative rise of impressionist painting.

Similarly to music, they are sub-grouped into distinct styles.

Vincent van Gogh, Starry night 1888, Musée d’Orsay, Paris © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

One such group represented in the exhibition are the neoimpressionists , using bright, bold colours; “we call it panel-van art” jokes Maxwell. Another group that played a major role in the era are the Nabis, a sort of secret art society, or really, as Maxwell divulges, just a group of kooky young guys who liked getting together, dressing up in weird costumes, talking about painting and giving themselves a mysterious name.

MASTERCLASS YOLANDE NORRIS Thinking of studying art history at university? Well, some would think you’re better off jumping on a plane and making a pilgrimage overseas to the great art galleries of the world. As people say, seeing the treasures of the art world in the flesh will teach you more than any lecture, textbook or essay ever will. This is easier said than done, though, and as yet an overseas jaunt isn’t something you can add to your HELP debt. But never fear! This summer, some of the world’s most famous paintings, from one of the world’s most famous museums, are coming to you.

The Musee D’Orsay in Paris is proud custodian of one of the best collections of 19th century art in the world, and an obligatory stop on any art-lover’s trip to France. Currently renovating their PostImpressionist galleries, the museum has made the decision to lend out some of its most important paintings – works which ordinarily would never leave the gallery walls. And who, of all the galleries in Australia, in all the world, gets the first honour of hosting these treasures? Why, the National Gallery of Australia of course, in lil’ ol Canberra. 114 paintings have been sent across the globe for the exhibition MASTERPIECES FROM PARIS: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne & Beyond.

This is obviously awesome, but I met with Sim Maxwell, NGA Exhibition Assistant, to delve a little further into why exactly everyone is buzzing with excitement.

First of all, there are the names. As if Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne, mentioned in the exhibition title, aren’t enough, Maxwell name drops Seurat, Monet and everybody’s favourite Frenchman Toulouse Lautrec. Secondly, unlike some other ‘blockbuster’ exhibitions we get here in Australia, it’s not just boring scraps that have been thrown our way, but fine art royalty. Big, bright, and dripping with credibility.

In Maxwell’s words, this is an exhibition that is “all killer, no filler”. As she runs me through a list of highlights from the show, I can hardly believe that I will get to see pieces like Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and

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After spending such a long time researching and working to bring this exhibition into being Maxwell is beginning to know these artists on an almost personal level. We all knew that Toulouse Lautrec was an alcoholic bohemian with a penchant for prostitutes, but very few of us know that Gauguin was a money-hungry traveller who visited Australia on a few occasions, or that Van Gogh, often portrayed as a mad man, was really just a sensitive soul who painted for his mother.

We’re so accustomed to seeing these works in reproduction that we rarely stop to think about the actual people who painted them, way back in the 19th century.

Masterpieces From Paris is a massive coup for the NGA, thanks in no small part to the great relationship Ron Radford, NGA Director, has struck up with Musee d’Orsay President Guy Cogeval. The two worked together to bring Degas to the National Gallery earlier this year, and now Canberra will be the only Australian venue for this new exhibition.

If not for this partnership between the galleries, and for the fact that the Musee d’Orsay is undergoing renovations, there would be next to no chance of these works ever leaving home. This is partly due to the fact they are some of the Musee’s star attractions (and there is nothing scarier than a tourist who hasn’t been able to see what they came for) and partly, as Maxwell explains, due to the extremely fragile nature of some of the works. Lautrec’s The Clown Cha-U-Kao, for instance, is particularly delicate, having been painted directly onto cardboard. Far from archivally sound, but such was the life of a starving artist.

The timing is great: over the summer break thousands of tourists will descend onto Canberra to visit the exhibition, and us lucky locals will be able to pop in and out as much as we want. For those wanting to escape the crowds, and the intense summer heat, there are going to be late evening openings, breakfast packages and night-time Summer Sessions with music and guest speakers.

At $25 (or $16 concession) a ticket the price ain’t cheap, but then neither is travelling to France. Get the best of both worlds this summer by checking out the Musee d’Orsay from the comfort of your own city. Berets optional.

Masterpieces From Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne & Beyond is on show at the National Gallery of Australia from December 4 2009 to April 5 2010.

about a hippie named Storm and some seriously warped love songs.

Minchin delivers his idiosyncratic ravings clad in black, bare foot and complete with dark eyeliner and some seriously teased hair. He looks more like a slightly disturbed rock and roll outcast than a performer of the world’s stages, but it’s all part of the act for Minchin.

A man of many talents, Minchin is also a writer and composer for theatre and film and dabbles in acting when the occasion arises. “At the moment, my career is composing again, as I am concentrating on writing songs for a stage version of Roald Dahl’s Matilda for the Royal Shakespeare Company,” says Minchin. Now, happily settled in London with his young family, Minchin is looking forward to a return to Oz.

TICKLING THE IVORIES JESS HENDERSON Perth-born, London-based TIM MIINCHIN is a man of comedy, music and movement – and he’s bringing his new keyboard axe to Canberra.

Yes, that’s right: the axe is coming to town! “I bought the new Roland ax-synth about a week into my last tour and have been playing it in the show ever since. It’ll be in Canberra,” Minchin says.

“London is definitely our home, but we manage to get back to Australia several months of each year since we moved. We’re very lucky… but it’s fucking hard work.” He’s also looking forward to his first Canberra performance. “I am very much looking forward to it! I love being places where the majority of my audience hasn’t seen my work!”

Tim Minchin performs at Canberra Theatre on Sunday Dec 6 and Monday Dec 7. Tickets from canberratheatre.org.au .

Minchin’s unique combination of physical theatre, comedy and music has been winning him accolades worldwide. The last five years have seen him grow from Melbourne’s 40 seat Butterfly Club, to playing the stages of the world – including critically acclaimed performances at the Edinburgh Fringe where he also took out the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. “The revelation that my music might be more suited to the comedy world came when I did a show at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2003... it’s just the coming together of my years of performing, song-writing, gigging and theatre making,” explains Minchin.

“There’s been a lot of memorable shows, as each time you take a step up (in terms of venue size and cred), it’s pretty exhilarating. My recent shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in London were pretty mindblowing. It seats 3,500 people, but feels strangely intimate. It was a huge thrill to play on a stage which so many amazing acts have played.”

For those not familiar with Minchin’s quirky take on musical comedy, expect a combination of tunes delivered on and around a grand piano and exploring such important themes as the special bond between redheads, or the ‘goodness’ of the good book.

There’s a nine-minute beat poem

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before hopping on a plane to Brisbane and said ‘I love it, that’s what we should do.’ It just made me laugh from the first listen.”

Musical of Musicals, by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell, is an offBroadway hit that lovingly spoofs the musical genre. June is behind on her rent and gets help from her beau Billy. It ain’t much of a plot, but the show works more on tapping into musical archetypes than on complexity of story. “In the show, there is the ingénue, the hero, the villain and the diva,” explains Jarrad West. “The ingénue (Hannah Ley) can’t pay her rent, the hero (Adrian Flor) may or may not pay it for her, the diva (Louiza Blomfeld) may or may not care, and the villain is of course the landlord who wants the rent, or at least something in lieu of payment.” Using this simple plot framework, the show parodies five of the musical world’s most recognisable: Rogers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, and Kander and Ebb.

OF THEE I SING NAOMI MILTHORPE “I mean, you have songs like Did I Put Out Enough?, Oh! What Beautiful Corn!, We’re All Going To Die, That Was Delicious Clam Dip!, and so on. You just know by their titles they’re going to be wonderfully silly.” Duncan Ley is talking about MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!), the latest show from local company Everyman – Ley and Duncan Driver, who share directing credits, and Jarrad West.

“We ended last year with a cabaret-style show written by myself and Jarrad, and this year we wanted to again finish up with a holiday-style piece that people could laugh with,” explains Ley. “Jarrad had the soundtrack recording of [Musical of Musicals] which he played for me in his car, on the way to the airport. I heard about two minutes of it

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“In each musical the story changes slightly to reflect the style of the composer,” explains West, who plays unforgiving landlord Jitter (or Judder, or Jüder, depending on which musical style you’re talking about).

“No song is copied directly, but each musical unmistakably sounds as if it is from that particular composer’s catalogue,” says Ley. “It’s all a loving piss-take, and very, very funny.” “You’ll hear a musical phrase, and just before you realise where you’ve heard it before, it’ll be gone and we’ll be onto the next one,” explains West. “So if you love musical theatre and showtunes, you’ll love this show. If you hate musicals and like nothing more than mocking the overblown, overdone, overearnestness of it all, you’ll also love this show.” Ley agrees. “I think hardcore musical fans will really appreciate the cleverness of the parody (especially the spot-on musical riffs), but if they feel uncomfortable… well, perhaps they’re taking their own passion for musicals a little too seriously!”

Everyman presents Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) at The Courtyard Studio, December 3-12 @ 8pm. Matinee 2pm December 12. 6275 2700.

IN REVIEW Porcelain The Street Theatre 3–7 November

Porcelain tells the story of John Lee (Keith Brockett), a 19-year-old Chinese man living in England, who murders his gay lover in the public toilet block where they first met. It’s a confronting premise, brought to the stage in a compelling and honest way.

The simplicity of the staging is particularly striking. Surrounded by origami cranes made of blood-red paper, the five actors sit in a row, addressing the audience directly, even when speaking to each other.

Four of the men are dressed in black, slipping from one character to another, while in the centre, Brockett is diminutive in white.

Brockett’s performance as John Lee is nuanced and expressive. He’s so good that it’s easy to sympathise with him, despite his crime. I found it difficult to tear my eyes away from him.

That said, Porcelain relies on a strong ensemble. Chay Yew’s script is lyrical, flowing rapidly from one actor to another. Paul David-Goddard as Alan White, an investigative journalist with Channel 4 often diffuses the tension with a sense of wry humour in his interview with psychologist Dr Worthing (Colin MacPherson). Leon Durr is cruel as William Hope, the murdered man. Nicholas Barker-Pendree shows his skills as a character actor, slipping effortlessly from one accent to the next, and delivering an emotional and authentic monologue as John Lee’s traditional Chinese father.

Chay Yew’s script is brilliant, Beng Oh’s direction is precise and sincere, and the resulting performance is stunning.

EMMA GIBSON

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ARTISTPROFILE: Steph Roberts

What do you do? I act with a few local companies, most recently with Rep, Moonlight (of which I am a founding member) and Papermoon.

When did you get into it? I did a bit of drama in college but didn’t really get into it until I left school.

Who or what influences you as an artist? The greatest influences on me as an actor are the people I am working with at the time. We have so many talented directors, designers, techies and actors in this town!

What’s your proudest moment so far? In 2008 I played Harper in Papermoon’s production of Angels in America. Angels in America is a challenging, intelligent, sad, long, funny and important play and it was a real privilege to be able to have a part in it. And I got to wear the world’s most hideous wig and a dirty, dirty mo for one scene, so that’s always something to be proud of.

What are your plans for the future? I would love to keep doing what I’m doing. It is such a joy!

What makes you laugh? Slapstick, animals doing silly things, cakewrecks.blogspot.com, Dr Who (when it’s not making me cry or hide behind a blanket), my family and friends.

What pisses you off? Concession prices over $15. I get that people need to recoup their costs, but more students will come to see theatre if they can see theatre and still afford to eat.

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What’s your opinion of the local scene? I think we are incredibly fortunate to have such a big theatre scene in a city this small. It might be hard to making a living as an actor here, but the amateur scene provides creative opportunities for so many people who just want to act/direct/design for the love of it.

What are your upcoming performances? At the moment I’m performing in It Runs In the Family at Canberra Rep, Theatre 3. It is a ludicrous farce full of delightfully cheap jokes. For tickets call 6257 1950.

Contact Info hellosteffi@hotmail.com

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WHO: Ausdance ACT WHAT: Master School WHEN: January 18–22 WHERE: Gorman House Arts Centre, Ainslie Ave, Braddon

bit PARTS WHO: Australian artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries WHAT: Idle Hours WHEN: Opens Friday December 11 WHERE: National Portrait Gallery Feeling the burn of long hours and late night shopping? Got your end-of-year frazzle on? Well, maybe you need to take a few minutes to chillax, care of the National Portrait Gallery. Their latest exhibition is Idle Hours, which meanders through a lazy day and night – full of reading, drawing, sleeping, bathing, cooking, sitting, and just kinda mooching about – as imagined by some of Oz art’s greatest. Idle Hours features works by Thea Proctor, Brett Whitely, Grace Cossington Smith, and John Brack among others, and is on at the NPG until February 2010.

Put yourself centre stage this summer with some of the dance industry’s most inspirational teachers. Ausdance ACT’s annual Master School includes classes in classical, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, tap and contact impro styles. It’s not just for students - working professional dancers, teachers, and tertiary dance graduates can attend company-level classes. Master School teachers include Lucy Chambers, Andrew Fee, Esther Just, Adelina Larsson, Marko Panzic, James Taylor and Solon Ulbrich. Email act@ausdance.org.au or call 6247 9103 for a registration brochure.

WHO: Free Rain Theatre WHAT: 2010 Season WHEN: See above WHERE: Theatres Around Canberra…

Free Rain, that stalwart of the Can pro-am scene, has announced its 2010 season under the umbrella tagline of “a classic season of theatre”. Wonders! Featuring in this classic season will be such classics as Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, to be directed by Fiona Atkin; Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, directed by Cate Clelland; and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Liz Bradley. Onwards and upwards!

Michael Zavros can’t paint/the wind is whistling through the house 2006 by Michael Zavros

WHO: ANU School of Art students WHAT: 2009 Graduate Exhibition WHEN: December 4 - 13 WHERE: ANU School of Art

WHO: Theatrical – but possibly also practical – cats.* WHAT: The CAT Awards WHEN: Nom party December 14 @ 5.30 WHERE: Teatro Vivaldi It is time once more to get out your ballot forms and start making Melbourne Cup-style sweeps, for the pressingest issue of the Can pro-am Scene is yet again here: WHO WILL WIN THE GOLDEN CAT? The nomination party (certainly the social highlight of the Canberra and area theatrical scene in mid-December) will be held at Teatro Vivaldi, and $20 will get you your booklet and some booze. Meanwhile, the awards themselves – for which you can now procure tickets through the CTC website – will slink onto the CTC stage in February, hosted by Tim Ferguson. *By ‘cats’ I mean persons, as in ‘hepcat’, not actual felines. I mean, an award for kitties? That would just be weird.

In case you didn’t already know: the summer party season officially begins with the opening of the ANU School of Art Graduate Exhibition.

Every year the departing students take over the School of Art buildings, filling them with artworks in every imaginable medium, not a single wall or space spared. They’re tomorrow’s art superstars, Canberra’s crème de la crème. If you’re still wondering how to spend your tax return, the Graduate exhibition is also your chance to grab shit-hot artwork for a very pretty penny. Turn up at 6pm on Friday December 4 for the massive opening celebration, or visit before the Saturday December 13 to take it all in.

WHO: You! In Belconnen Theatre!

WHAT: Whatever you want!

WHEN: 2010 WHERE: Belconnen Theatre. Durr!

Belconnen Theatre is inviting independent artists, community groups, and private organisations to book at THE CHEAPEST EQUIPPED THEATRE IN CANBERRA for performances, conferences, whatevs 2010. The theatre seats 148 and is fully kitted out with lighting and sound rig, disabled seating, curtains – all the accoutrements, in other words, that you want. While the theatre is getting pretty heavily booked, there are some sweet spaces in Feb, and at these prices $150/day or just under $900/week, you aren’t going to get a better deal than this. Call Simone Penkethman at the Belconnen Community Centre on 6264 0235 for more info.

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MORE THAN YOU THINK HE IS

SHAKING THINGS UP

JORDAN BEVERLEY

KATHERINE QUINN

He would choose to be a chocolate cake with a gooey centre, he’d rather be mauled by a shark than a crocodile, Tom Petty’s Square One has “haunted [him] forever,” and he would find it “embarrassing and weird” if you threw your underwear on the stage, but that hasn’t happened since they were a “new alternative band.” But now he’s a bit older, and if the knicker-throwing has stopped, the success certainly hasn’t, and fame can’t be new to ROB THOMAS.

Never one to do things by the book, New Zealand artist MIHIRANGI built up a strong following by creating live music entirely with her voice, beatboxing and layering sounds to create rich chords and funk-inspired melodies. Now she’s devised a way to reward the loyalty of her fans, by involving them in the production of her new album, Somebody Shake the Tree.

He’s the lead singer of Grammy Award-winning group Matchbox Twenty and somewhere around you’ve probably already seen the cover of Cradlesong; a striking, intense image inspired by artist Louise Robinson that Thomas likes, even if it is “a little scary.” (It is.) He was “going for dark twisted fairytale,” and that’s what his second solo album is – a collection of lullabies for a city that never sleeps, a world where noise and rest have to mingle.

Sharing that moment is the reason why we do it

He writes pop/rock music and freely acknowledges that he is “so mainstream,” but somehow, his lyrics get inside you and resonate and his love of the twisted means none of his music is ever that simple. He’s that combination of magic, talent, and human fallibility that characterises artistic genius; he’s simultaneously the guy that gets drunk with his mates, and the guy at a loss for words to describe what it’s like to walk onstage in front of thousands. And he’s somebody who truly believes in live performance.

“You have these certain songs for things happening in your life, and then you run into people, and you meet people that have been kinda allocated your song and then it’s all about a live show. In real time, you and everybody in that room are on the same page. They all have different reasons in their life why that song’s important to them but you’re all there, sharing that moment and when we have a great night, where everybody’s on the same page like that, that’s the reason why we do it.”

So the magic and the mystery of music happens for him, then, in “having that melody in [his] head… then one day sitting down and listening to the record and then going out and playing it to people who sing it back.” And after all this? He’s the guy using what he’s listening to in order to keep track of how many drinks he’s had.

“The point in the night where you’re way too drunk is the point when you wind up listening to yourself. So at some point when we’re all hanging out, we’re on a bus leaving a gig and we’re all really drunk, we’ll pull out the iPod, and we’re all listening to the different stuff on it. We’re like, ‘oh play that, that time, that cover we did,’ and so I tend to listen back to live stuff, but not much recorded stuff.”

You can catch Rob at the Royal Theatre early next year on Friday February 19 2010. Tickets available through Ticketek.

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Future Producer is Mihirangi’s latest venture, where fans have the opportunity to purchase ‘producer points.’ These points gain you access to an online forum, where you have a hand in everything from song selection to cover art, receiving a signed copy of the album when it’s completed and revenue for five years after its release. I ask Mihirangi how she came up with this unique project. “Well, I was sitting on a plane bored as fuck,” she begins, with just a hint of those squashed kiwi vowels, “and I started reading a thing on how Obama did his campaign and raised 350 million dollars through crowd funding. Then I started thinking about how this could work for my own business.”

Whether I’m singing in Maori or English, my culture is my spirituality

“The whole process is starting a whole new co-op between the fans and the artist. My fans know me; they know what they want out of my music and what they like. There’s no corporate suit that’s going to suck away all the money and turn the artist into something the fans don’t want.”

It’s clear that Mihi places great importance on having a genuine connection with her fans, using her lyrics to communicate subjects that are important to her and central to Maori culture. “Whether I’m singing in Maori or English, my culture is my spirituality, the very deepest core of my being,” she tells me. “In most indigenous cultures there is a belief in the connection we have with nature, so that’s why a lot of my lyric content is about the environment, or empowering women.”

She has an amazing, intricate Maori design on her forehead and on enquiry I discover that it is indeed a real tattoo. “It represents my family – in Maori we call a gift from our family a taonga, like a family heirloom,” she says, kindly pausing to spell the indigenous words as we talk. We discuss how brave she was to get a tattoo on her face, but she says “there’s no way I would regret it because it represents who I am.

It’s not like I got it like a pair of jeans or a piece of jewellery.”

Well, for less than the price of a pair of jeans, you can be directly involved with the career of this original and intriguing musician. “The fans get to have a feeling of ownership and a personal relationship with the creation of the album,” Mihirangi says. But you’d better get in quick – over a hundred of only 500 producer points have already sold out.

You can catch Mihirangi at the Phoenix on Saturday December 5 at the Phoenix. It’s free entry, so get there early to avoid disappointment!

That’s great!’ It’s nice not having girls just standing around. It’s a bit more harmonic,” says Cuthbert.

LUCKY SEVEN MEL EVANS Not many have heard of CUTHBERT AND THE NIGHTWALKERS, but those who love their music magical and their bands barely able to fit on stage have waited patiently for the group’s second album. Solidly making their presence known within the Aussie music scene, and after talking to lead-man Richie Cuthbert, the Night Walkers are excited to launch their new album, Mr. Pickwick’s Camera, to the masses through their upcoming shows – in particular the local Transit Bar gig. “You never feel you’ve got it out there until you perform the shows… looking forward to it,” quips the enthusiastic Cuthbert.

Beginning their giant musical family, Cuthbert and the Night Walkers consisted of lead singer/guitarist Richie Cuthbert, bassist Brendan Walsh and Dan Rooney on drums, with a massive choir of 13 girls. After performing with this lineup for around ten shows, they decided it was just smarter (and more spacious) to dwindle their numbers down to a safe seven. “I wasted a lot of phone credit during that time… we don’t really have a choir anymore, the girls that were in the choir are on instruments. It was like ‘oh, you can play keys?

Making a name for themselves as a bit of a feel-good, up beat band, the Night Walkers seem to be taking a more personal and serious road within Mr. Pickwick’s Camera. Have our fun, carefree Night Walkers turned sappy on us? “It’s a way to get things out in the open, off my chest. I don’t give too much away to my friends or family. [But having fun] is what our band was built on. Our first album was very much about fun and character-based songwriting. This album we tried to get a little more serious, which didn’t really work for us. We figured our place in Aussie music was to be a fun band. Not saying that we don’t take it seriously, it is something we do a lot, take the music seriously, but not take ourselves too seriously,” Cuthbert reassures me.

Our place in Aussie music is to be a fun band

With the band having released Mr. Pickwick’s Camera, it is time for the group (which consists of Richie, Dan, Brendan, Dan Bishton, Irena Tasevska, Lauren Mckinnon and Guilia Polito) to head out on the road and promote their newest, shiny gem. Beginning at the Annandale Hotel, the promo tour then brings them across to Canberra’s very own Transit Bar on Thursday November 26. When questioned on how the band feel playing on stages like Transit’s, which aren’t designed for the largest of groups, Richie was refreshingly optimistic, although he does miss the ability to rock out spasmodically on stage. “There is never enough space!

I always feel like I’m going to take out Guilz or Nat. Turning around… is about the extent to what we can do,” laughs Cuthbert.

Like the lady said above, you can catch Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers at Transit Bar on Thursday November 26.

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THE REALNESS About a month ago I stumbled across the video for Foreign Beggars’ new single Contact featuring and produced by Noisia and it clean knocked the head off my shoulders with how banging and massive it was. Fast forward and the entire new LP United Colors Of Beggatron is out now and it is (as expected) just as dope as the single. Beats come from Noisia, Ghosttown,

Dag Nabbit and more and there’s high profile guest slots a plenty from the likes of Kyza, Jehst and Dubbledge. The LP walks the fine line between warped insanity and thought-provoking expressiveness and succeeds on all counts. An instant classic.

One of my fave duos, People Under The Stairs have just released their seventh long player Carried Away and I am

pleased to say that it is one of their best. Recorded entirely on reel to reel with dozens of rock samples, dusty old drum machines, distorted vocals and lots of (funny) cussing, it’s that definite party/good times vibe once again from the fellas and it just never gets old. Check out the video for Trippin’ At The Disco online for some of that flava! You even get a bossy fold out board game and poster with the album coz they are generous like that.

Straight niceness.

Sydney’s Phatchance has just dropped his debut LP Inkstains via Obese distribution, the culmination of two hard years of dedicated songwriting

and recording. Notable for his huge list of support slots and a coveted Feature Artist spot on triple j’s Unearthed, Phatchance’s debut is a cohesive, intelligent and honest LP which moves away from traditional boom-bap sounds to embrace an indie vibe but without ever losing that hip-hop aesthetic. Featuring guest slots from Prime, 360 and Smiles Again, vocals from HR King, Sam McNeill and Miriam Waks and beats from Adit, Akouo, DJ Hoppa, Elgen and more, Inkstains is out now.

Check Phatchance at www. officialphatchance.com .

Torcha from Hyjak & Torcha fame has followed up the duo’s recent Unregrettable LP on Obese with a new offering from his group A Broken Silence. All For What is out now through MGM and allows Hyjak a new freedom, fronting this five-piece which fuses the influences of punk rock, metal, jazz and funk. It’s a real mixture of sounds and the album is laced with high profile guest slots from Tim Freedman (The Whitlams) to Ozi Batla (The Herd). Hyjak continues the growth shown on Unregrettable with a mature display of storytelling across the record. Something different for those wanting to expand their horizons.

And just in case you haven’t heard (like you haven’t!), the legendary Mash Out Posse aka M.O.P. are dropping into town to tear the roof off the ANU. The Brooklyn dons have been dropping banger after banger for over 12 years now and show no signs of stopping. This is a rare chance to see one of hip-hop’s legendary duos in Canberra.

Supported by Kings Konekted and Ciecmate & Newsense this is def a night not to miss. Clear your calendar on Saturday December 5 and ante up.

To listen to sounds from all the above and more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM from 9:30pm every Tues night. Stream live at www.2xxfm.org.au .

ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

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career which spans more than 15 years. They released their debut single, How About Some Hardcore, in 1993 and they are most well known for the song Ante Up, released on their 2000 album, Warriorz.

MONSTER MASH SHAILLA VAN RAAD Speaking to Billy Danze of M.O.P., contracted from the moniker Mash Out Posse, was an unexpectedly refreshing experience. The Brownsville, NY-based duo, consisting of Danze and Lil’ Fame, first started out as a gang, spitting out rhymes in their spare time and eventually evolving their hardcore hip-hop sound to become M.O.P. as we know them today.

Danze describes the challenge of growing up in Brownsville. “Brownsville, New York is a hard and rugged place,” he says. “My parents had no money and on my 18th birthday I couldn’t leave the house because I was scared that I’d get killed. People don’t have to come to visit Brownsville, through our music we tell them what it’s like… We represent the part of society that people try to forget about. We’re not the kind of rappers who rap about things we don’t know about. We speak for the people who don’t have a voice.”

Being one of the most highly acclaimed hip-hop groups of all time, they have had a substantial time to build this reputation – M.O.P. has had a

Currently, having just produced their ninth record, Foundation, M.O.P. are on their way to Australia, playing at the ANU Bar on Saturday December 5. Danze and Lil’ Fame have progressed personally, lyrically and musically from making “music that said ‘I will come over there and hit you in your goddamn mouth’” with instead now making music which says “‘I will come over there and hit you in your goddamn mouth but give you reasons for it.’” This evolution is evident in the material on Foundation, whose main purpose Danze describes as being “about telling fans that we are still grounded— we’re still true to where we came from.

Otherwise we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

We speak for the people who don’t have a voice

So what can we expect from M.O.P. live? Danze passionately expresses that “essentially our performance is just like a movie. We like to perform with energy and action. When we perform songs to the audience it’s the way that we’d like to see and hear them ourselves.”

Danze had never dreamed his musical and lyrical abilities would take him to Australia. He is very proud to have a career which allows him to travel around the world and spread the word of the collective language of hiphop. “I’ve always wanted to go to Australia; we’ve been trying to get there for years. I haven’t heard Australian hip-hop as of yet, but as a group from my era we’re very open to hearing other things from other countries.

Once you leave America you realise that hip-hop is a universal language.”

You can catch M.O.P. live at the ANU Bar on Saturday December 5. Tickets through Ticketek.

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ROTTING CHRIST stephen samara For over 20 years ROTTING CHRIST have spearheaded the Greek extreme metal scene. After nine studio albums (with a tenth on its way) and controversial run-ins with the likes of Dave Mustaine and the Roman Catholic Church, they stand as one hell of an uncompromising band.

Formed in 1987, they quickly changed their sound from grindcore to black metal, which is where the legendary Euronymous, tragically betrayed by Varg of Burzum, comes into the picture. “We were brothers with Euronymous and we were about to release a split LP with Burzum but his murder didn’t allow this,” says vocalist and guitarist Sakis. “Maybe in another life… who knows?”

Their tenth and as yet untitled studio album is likely to be a landmark of 2010. “We have just finished it and everyone that has heard it admits that we’ve stepped up from our previous album Theogonia,” says Sakis. “It’s actually my goal as an artist to manage to take a step forward artistically and to not copy myself.”

And this has shown through their changes stylistically – from raw black metal to extreme gothic metal to melodic black metal and more in between.

Metal is more than something listened to by freaks

Due to their name, the band have been followed by controversies everywhere they go. That being said, they have also become proud fighters in ‘resistance to the system,’ a system that, in 1980s Greece, was founded on religious fundamentalism from the Roman Catholic Church. The band make the bold statement that “this is METAL… a punch to any conservative idea!” and if that’s not an anthem for the masses, then what is?

Aside from writing and recording the new album, they’ve had their first appearance in a video game, namely Brutal Legend. Their song Ad Noctis appears in the in-game soundtrack, along with 106 other heavy metal songs. “We’re proud that the biggest video game company in the world chose one of our songs,” Sakis says. “As long as people open their minds and start to believe that metal music is more than something listened to by freaks.”

Over the years their lyrical themes and musical influences have progressed with each new album. Sakis insists that “we used to be rebels without reason, but now we’re rebels WITH a reason. We are getting more mature but we’re still reactionists!” Screamfest will be Rotting Christ’s first show in Australia. The band proudly declare that they look forward to spreading Lucifer over Australia, and that Aussie fans should “KEEP THE DARK CULT ALIVE.” Horns up people!

Rotting Christ are part of the uber-ly brutal lineup at Screamfest, held at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre over Thursday December 31 and Friday January 1. Tickets through Ticketek.

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the word

BLACKBOX

on games Wrestling - an impressive act of athleticism or a brain-dead act of homoeroticism? To help you decide, we a have fight night special this issue, with our main event competitors being the long-standing Smackdown vs. Raw (vs. ECW) vs. the undisputed UFC. Let’s get it on!

WWE Smackdown vs.

Raw 2010 Developer: Yuke’s Media Creations Publisher: THQ Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Length: 5+ hours Platform: PS3, 360

Just because Smackdown is in its 11th incarnation, don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s anything special. Sure, it has the official endorsement, a shit tonne of characters and many a mode, however, the most crucial element - the fighting - feels lacking. Whereas the wrestling classics placed the focus on the button-mashing grapples, Smackdown seems content in giving you a repertoire of one-sided set-pieces to inflict upon each other until eventually someone’s pinned (possibly just due to sheer boredom). Despite this qualm, as a WWE fan, I still found the carefully recreated entries and signature moves immensely enjoyable (at least for the first time). Unfortunately, the charm wears off, so as such, I would suggest saving this one for the rental shop.

UFC 2009 Undisputed Developer: Yuke’s Media Creations Publisher: THQ Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Length: 5+ hours Platform: PS3, 360

UFC, good? This warranted investigation. So I recruited my housemate and we bumbled our way through many a limb-flailing bout. The conclusion? I don’t really get this game. Sure, a UFC aficionado will no doubt lecture me about how I failed to grasp the richness of the fighting system, but to me, it just felt like a grown up version of Wii boxing.

Furthermore, the game’s RPG style, single player campaign is pretty boring (once again proving it’s best to stick to a single genre) and there’s a decent amount of delay between the actual fighting. As such, after just a few sessions (and once my housemate mastered the head kick), I’d had my fill. That said, the fighting is still enjoyable enough that I can appreciate why some people love this title.

TORBEN SKO

As Canberra melts into a Salvador Dali installation, the challenge is on to beat the heat. If you can’t find a friend with a pool and can afford to spend the entire day at the cinema, do the next best thing and find a friend with air conditioning and enjoy a summer of cricket (and other televisual delights). By a stroke of luck Chez Blackbox manages to stay quite pleasant without contributing to climate change so the beer fridge is stocked and the remotes are ready for battle.

And the most important event is the new series Red Dwarf Special 2009: Back to Earth (ABC2, Mon Nov 30, 8pm). Kryten is the only character who hasn’t managed to look like he has aged ten years and the storyline is incredibly self-referential and filled with alternate realities. Fans will lap it up.

ABC3 Kids starts broadcasting at the beginning of December and while it’s squarely pitched at tweens and the under fives, there’s a fair chance some bigger kids will tune in for Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab (ABC3, Fri Dec 4, 7.05pm) to see a science lab run by a Top Gear (SBS1, Mon and Fri 7.30pm) adrenaline junkie.

Other new series include Moses Jones (ABC1, Tue 8.30pm), an intriguing crime thriller set against the backdrop of London’s Ugandan community, The Take (Prime, Wed Dec 2, 9.30pm), another British crime drama, set in London’s East End, Kingdom (Prime, Sat Dec 5, 7.30pm), a British odd-ball drama starring Stephen Fry, Wallander (Prime, Sat Dec 5, 8pm), a BBC crime drama filmed in Sweden and starring Kenneth Branagh, Park and Recreation (Prime, Tues Dec 1, 11pm), a US mockumentary, History of Scotland (SBS1, Sun Dec 6, 7.30pm), Heston’s Feasts (SBS1, Sun Dec 6, 8.35pm), an historical gastronomic delight, and acclaimed HBO drama John Adams (SBS1, Sun Dec 6, 9.30pm).

Docos to check out this fortnight include Rudely Interrupted (ABC1, Thu Dec 3, 9.35pm), which follows the Melbourne band of the same name as they play at the UN building in New York for International Disability Day, Make ‘em Laugh: The Funny Business of America (ABC1, Mon Nov 30, 9.35pm), comedy from Charlie Chaplin to Chris Rock, Edge Codes: Beyond the Cut (ABC2, Sun Nov 29, 8.30pm), a history of film editing, Making Samson & Delilah (ABC1, Thu Nov 26, 9.30pm), Joanna Lumley in the Land of Northern Lights (ABC1, Sun Nov 29, 7.30pm), No Way San Jose: Cocktails in Costa Rica (ABC2, Wed Dec 9, 8pm), which follows two Australians trying to open a cocktail bar, and Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory (ABC2, Wed Dec 9, 8.30pm), a glimpse inside a boutique chocolate making operation.

A whole lot of shows are returning with new episodes for the summer including Little Britain (SCTEN, Wed Dec 9, 9.30pm), Californication (SCTEN, Wed Dec 9, 10.05pm), Rules of Engagement (SCTEN, Thu Dec 3, 7.30pm), The Circuit (SBS1, Tue Dec 1, 8.30pm) and Ideal (ABC2, Fri Dec 4, 9.30pm).

Series finishing up this fortnight include John Safran’s Race Relations (ABC1, Wed Dec 9, 9.30pm), which finishes with his nailing to a cross in The Philippines, Flashforward (Prime, Mon Nov 30, 8.30pm) and Nurse Jackie (SCTEN, Tue Dec 8, 1am), which deserves better scheduling than it got. Still feeling frazzled, talk to Ernie Dingo – his new show No Leave, No Life (Prime, Sat Dec 5, 6.30pm) gives ordinary people a holiday. Sign up now! And finally Madness fans (of which Blackbox is one), should check out Madness: The Liberty of Norton Folgate (ABC2, Sun Nov 29, 3.55pm) as the rejuvenated band plays songs from their 2009 concept album and some old hits.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

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the word

on albums

album of the week fun machine more is more [independent] In what is probably the best DIY CD packaging I have ever come across (paper sleeve with aerosol balloon stencil and a twine balloon string attached to a snappy little card insert with track deets.

Twine = genius) comes the debut EP More is More by locally illustrious merchants of madness, Fun Machine.

Opener Cougar is a lively music hall-style warning against wild women with dark and menacing piano its driving undercurrent. The dazzling and disgustingly talented Bec Taylor’s strong and sexy chanteuse voice combines with those of the three Fun Machine men (and what men they are) to create a deliciously rich and constantly changing texture.

Café Stalker is a sweet yet scary jaunty pop song peppered with uproarious lines (not unlike all their songs), and one of many crowd faves Nintendo in the Jungle is such a freaking ear-worm I feel I’ll be humming it for all eternity.

Chris Endrey’s high-larious vocals intertwine with Taylor’s like jungle vines, and when the whole Machine sings it’s just glorious. Dave Crosby’s keys are masterful and Ramsay Nuthall’s bass big and bouncy.

I implore you, see them live the first chance you get.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD

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the black heart procession six [Temporary Residence Limited]

deadmau5 for lack of a better name [mau5trap recordings]

Relax cigarette and scarf fans - The Black Heart Procession return to gloomy, low tempo death-imbued torch song territory. Ho-fucking-ho. The San Diego band have devoted a career to balancing moody atmospherics with quality, mannered song writing. 2007’s The Search altered the mood a little going up-tempo and was a better album for it. But now they seemed to have gone two steps back. Rats sounds like Red Right Hand, which is fine; until you consider there is little reason to listen to an approximation when the original will do just fine thank you very much. The rest of the album is a dirge – the abundant biblical imagery would tire even then most brimstone-inclined listener. Sadly, there is no fire.

Either his (or more accurately, his people are) trying to be clever or he’s completely devoid of creativity on album titles. This second release sounds nothing like last year’s debut, which is a grand thing if, like me, you were hoping to hear upbeat and quirky tunes like Hi Friend! instead of the total progressive and minimal tech that 2008’s Random Album Title entailed.

Hooray for different directions!

This new effort begins on the electro and house side of the fence with kicking basslines and lifting melodies. This time, there’s minimal minimal.

Instead, we’ve got a high-spirited tracklist featuring various styles of music; starting off with club faves before the deep, show-off techno and the vocals add just a little bit of uh, cheese?

JUSTIN HOOK

danika nayna

the pains of being pure at heart higher than the stars [Lost and lonesome]

julian casablancas phrazes for the young [rca records]

This was a frustrating EP to review.

The New York four piece had all the ingredients for success; appealing tunes and catchy chorus lines, plus a well balanced track list that had a remix of the opener bringing up the rear. The lyrics were engaging too, when you could hear them. The whispered vocals, reminiscent of The Panics, were all too often obscured by the distorted guitars, such as the punk themed 103. The main exception to this cloudiness was the Higher Than the Stars remix, by UK outfit Saint Etienne. Falling Over was reasonably clear too.

Some would find this deliberate fuzziness arty however.

RORY MCCARTNEY

Phrazes for the Young determines one thing: While everyone thought Casablancas was the mastermind behind indie gods the Strokes, this album clarifies that he was just another member. Like always, there are moments of greatness in the lyrics, but that’s about all. It’s messy, there’s no cohesion and by the end of the tenth track there’s nothing but disappointment. His attempt at apolocolyptic ‘80s only extends to the cover art, and not even breakaway single 11th Dimension can save this album.

KATY HALL

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys Empire State Of Mind [Warner] Whilst we’ve heard a hundred odes to New York from Jay-Z already, this newie stands out, towering above the rest, much like the building it takes its name from. And although Jigga is in surprisingly good form on the verse, what’s even more surprising is that Alicia Keys, a no-no for me, just belts out the hook with fiy-ah, cranking up the anthem-o-meter on this one.

Ke$ha Tik Tok [Sony BMG] As ubiquitous summer jams go, this could be much much worse. It’s that kind of dumb fun that’s infectious, but seriously, Uffie’s been doing this for four years now, and if her dwindling success is any indication, Ke$ha ($eriou$ly?) won’t be bothering us for long.

Lady GaGa Bad Romance [UMA] Par for the course with GaGa, Bad Romance spreads its tentacles wide, ensnaring some industrial beats, Euro-cheese rave synths, art-club aesthetics and the requisite Madonna flourishes for something that’s never greater than the sum of its parts. Pity.

Penguin Prison Animal Animal [Neon Gold] Despite the woefully bad name, Penguin Prison is definitely worth your time. A one man show out of New York, PP mixes up bubblegum synths, skidding beats and soulful vocals. Kind of like if Justin Timberlake grew up listening to OMD. Nice, right?

the word on dvds

little feat skin it back [shock} In terms of classic rock tales – Little Feat’s is up there. Although various versions exist, the general consensus is that Lowell George got booted from Frank Zappa’s wildly inventive Mothers of Invention in the early ‘70s. Zappa was notoriously anti-drug and an exacting task master to boot, so it wasn’t long before the more relaxed George and micromanaging Zappa butted heads.

Various members of Frank’s backing band followed and by 1972 a relatively stable line up had settled with Richey Hayward, Bill Payne and Roy Estrada for Little Feat to record one of the great forgotten albums of the fertile early ‘70s in Sailin’ Shoes. It was a classic line-up that was short lived and that album seems to have fallen off the radar completely.

Trouble is the sort of song that turns up in Wes Anderson films as the depressed protagonist contemplates life after another costly mistake. Having said that – it had better not. There’s no surer death of a great song and an Anderson shout-out.

Skin It Back is essentially a concert filmed for the German TV show Rockpalast that draws heavily from Little Feat’s late ‘70s songbook. Alas, by this time the discipline they exercised earlier in the decade had all but dissipated and ill-advised journeys prog, ska and jazz exploration had snuck in clogging up the vibe on stage. It would be only two more years before the chronically unhealthy and over indulgent Lowell George plugged in for one last time –this DVD documents his last tour.

woodstock [warner home video] Woodstock was billed as 3 Days of Music and Peace but it quickly became a sodden nirvana or muddy nightmare, depending on your memory and/or your dealer. It was a cultural phenomenon built on the quaint notion of a bunch of music fans chilling out to some music on a farm. What the organsers didn’t count on was its moth-to-light quality and despite audience numbers swelling towards half a million it looked quite relaxed and communal, a lot more so than Splendour or the BDO – despite being over 100 times bigger.

But Woodstock is more than a by-the-numbers concert film or a time capsule from a simpler era. For a start it was actually quite a violent time; social upheaval resulted in political assassinations, major cities burning for days on end and then there was Vietnam. But more importantly Woodstock is a shimmering achievement in film making akin to the output of auteurs like Scorsese, de Palma and Coppola. The liberal use of split frame is guerrilla editing par excellence feeling urgent and tense one minute then prosaic and pastoral the next. It’s tight and out of control setting the template for MTV a couple of decades later.

So why should you care about this? Why should you dedicate the time to investigate the back catalogue of another band from generations ago that were allegedly important? On their night they could apparently blow the Stones off the stage but I wouldn’t be looking here for such evidence. And yes – they wrote some great songs. But Skin It Back is no place to start.

Footage of locals – equally happy for the lives to be hijacked by the hippes and disgusted by the general filth and blatant drug use – is emblematic of a divided nation.

And it’s impossible not to double take when images of US Army helicopters flying in medical assistance is slice edited with crowd shots, shirtless and dazed. In that moment you see the confused America of the ‘60s. In the end, Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Monday morning performance was played out to a near empty field – the dream looked spent.

Woodstock is both a great film about music, youth and mud and a great piece of film making.

justin hook

justin hook

harry potter and the half blood prince [warner home video] The Harry Potter franchise has played a large role in defining the noughties. The books revived the concept of reading for millions who had apparently known only weekly gossip magazines beforehand and the movie series has kept generations of British actors in gainful employment.

And speaking of gossip – new world blogs and old world tabloids kept us salivating as the assortment of child actors experimented with booze, hooking up and jazz cigarettes (tersely denied, of course).

This installment welcomes Jim Broadbent, who is incapable of turning in a sour performance, as Horace Slughorn.

The Half Blood Prince is also one of the darker of the series thus far – and in places there are distinct elements of the Batman rebirthed series (Harry struggling to understand the need to tap into darkness) and X-Men (students’ puzzling their inner urges). The outer urges are also starting to be addressed as well – Hermione Granger and Ron Weasly forge a closeness that betrays our collective memories of a couple of ginger kiddies mucking about at Hogwarts. Visually, it’s stunning.

Where previously the graphics have looked perfunctory and ‘that’ll do’ in this film attention has been clearly been paid to how they extend the storylines. It doesn’t look naff and showy – it looks glorious and it makes sense.

The weakest aspect is not its alleged journey into darkness, although the scene of an eerie floating student, Linda Blair-style is confronting in the context of Potter-world. No, it’s the complete immersion in the series required for comprehension. My viewing partner was perplexed by the language, plot and character development that left little wriggle room for the neophyte.

This is a continuation of a theme and not a stand alone film and for fans it remains immeasurably rewarding. justin hook

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the word

on films

WITH MARK RUSSELL

I realised something about Richard Gere this week: his acting technique is based entirely on varying degrees of squinting. The level of drama in any given scene can be successfully gauged by how much iris you can see. As Richie’s crow’s feet grow, the shit’s getting progressively closer to the fan. But then, perhaps it’s just the personal drama of his career slipping that little bit further away... or maybe it’s just an extraindustrious gerbil.

quote of the issue Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet): “The governor just said not to panic.”

Jackson Curtis (John Cusack): “When they tell you not to panic... that’s when you run!” 2012

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2012

Død Snø (Dead Snow)

AMELIA

The day after The Day After Tomorrow, an idea was already forming in director Roland Emmerich’s head –“My Bentley needs a new coat of platinum, let’s blow some shit up.” 2012 was born, based on the date the Mayan calendar allegedly states that the world will end. Mayan religious leaders have long since denied the superstition, attributing it instead to a bunch of crazy Californian hippies. Regardless, some more conservative-minded Californians have cashed in on the hysteria big time.

Norwegian medical students square off against Nazi zombies?

Only three stars?!? How is this so, “dead” Sko?

Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) was America’s most famous aviatrix. Amelia charts her life goal to do as much flying as possible, breaking records and female constraints as she goes.

It’s pretty standard in-flight entertainment.

2012 has no real idea what it wants to be. The opening half hour is full of admirable attempts at character made by boosting clichés (the scientists, the kooks, the absentee dad) with a little something extra. When environmental armageddon does hit however, all character goes out the window in favour of every ridiculous action set piece imaginable. The plot holes come so thick and fast you’re too busy noticing the big ones to even consider the small ones. The huge cast would take too long to dissect but a few notables come as John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Amanda Peet all showing just how far they can slide away from former glory. Danny Glover also puts in a ridiculous turn as the President of the US. His flat, emotionless speeches do absolutely nothing to rouse the senses. 2012 is way too long and you end up with the faintest hope that the cataclysm will actually wipe us out to cut proceedings short. A couple of good moments and expensive, though uninspired, CGI carries the film limping to the finish line but, as someone who’ll undoubtedly perish early on in the apocalypse, I didn’t care enough.

MARK RUSSELL

Alright you Cheezle-encrusted cult freak, settle down. I agree, it’s an ingenious premise. For a start, it does away with the moral dilemma of other zombie flicks where characters decide whether to turn the gun on their own friends. These are frickin’ Nazis for God’s sake… shoot the bastards! No, this is an enthusiastic three stars. To a reviewer, cult films usually start with a zero rating and have stars added for things done well making three a happy number, rather than an award-contender that starts at five and is whittled down to a disappointing three. So while the plot holes and subject matter mean it’s not exactly going to be challenging Ben Hur for classic status, it is entertaining. And funny, too. As suggested by a few homages throughout, Død Snø’s inspiration and tone is gleaned from the more comedic bent of the zom genre, such as the latter Evil Dead films and Peter Jackson’s Brain Dead (one of the characters even sports a Brain Dead t-shirt to really make sure we get it). The early mood-setting scenes soon make way for the core elements of an enjoyable zom com; amusing set ups and, o yes, buckets of gore.

Want someone to sew their own neck up? You got it. Want some exposed brain action? Check.

Do you want, somehow, to be laughing amidst scenes of such horror? You’re in luck.

It’s unlikely this will be getting my vote come Oscar time, but for those after a rollicking good time washed down with a vat of blood, get involved.

ALLAN SKO

Swank is brilliant as always, despite a clipped accent that slips in and out of credibility, whilst staying annoying throughout.

Unfortunately she’s given very little to work with. The story plays out peppered with moments intended to be dramatic but which never quite hit that emotional high. Its slow pace and awkwardness constantly defuse the tension it hopes to have, and the pay off never comes.

We get the feeling that this is intended as a sweeping love story to make our hearts soar into the clouds as Amelia’s plane does.

But it doesn’t deliver. Earhart’s amorous time with publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere) is unbelievable and lacks any real emotional kick. Her dalliances with Gene Vidal (father of Gore as we are constantly and pointlessly reminded) are a little better but still provide nothing brilliant.

The flying scenes don’t excite nearly as much as they should either. The fact that the film opens with Amelia going on her final flight, then goes back in time, means that we never really fear for her in the earlier adventures.

It’s an interesting story full of interesting adventure and a central character who’s... interesting. Capable cinematography and direction bring everything together to form a shining example of adequacy.

MARK RUSSELL

GIG GUIDE Nov 25 - Nov 29 wednesday november 25 Arts Light Industrial

Highlights work created during a workshop program with the combined diverse talents of M16 artists.

M16 ARTSPACE

Kutipitjaku Purti - Bush Tripping

Dance

With Mytile Vey Lorth, Kill for Satan and Forgery.

TRINITY BAR

Recoil

9pm.

Nathan Frost

Jack of all trades.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Live Blatherskite

First Canberra exhibition of paintings from Kayili Artists, from Patjarr, remote Western Australia.

With Never Trust a Bunny, Red Bee, Pergamum and Entropy Within. $10 to enter.

Indigenous Art at the ANU

The Spirits

CHAPMAN GALLERY

Peter Baume AC. launches his major publication and exhibition with works from the 1950s onwards.

DRILL HALL GALLERY, ANU

Live Ry Cooder & Nick Lowe with Joachim Cooder

With special guest Juliette Commagere.

Tickets on sale now.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Whitley

On his Go Forth Find Mammoth tour.

With special guests The Brunettes. Tix through Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

THE BASEMENT

Tour their single The Other Half.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Pyramid Presents Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers TRANSIT BAR

Domus Adultus

Ashely Walsh, The Jason Recliners, The Kevin Windross Band and Clankenstein.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Something Different PJ’s Variety Night

An eclectic mix of live music, comedians and loads of giveaways.

Kicks off at 8.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Los Chavos

THE PHOENIX PUB

friday november 27

Corrina Steel

New album A Fling With the King out now. $10 on the door. Doors from 7.30pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Something Different Fame Trivia

Do you know lots of stuff about nothing? Come on down every Wednesday from 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

thursday november 26 Arts The Wolf on the Fold

Opening of new work by George Craig and Karin Maier. 6pm. ‘Til Dec 8.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

ARC Cinema

ARC Cinema Highlights - Cinema of Divided Berlin and Bent Lens Queerdoc ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Insidious Torture

Ashley Feraude

Arts Obfunc

New design collective combining architecture, fine furniture and graphic design.

THE BASEMENT

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Overheard Productions Rocks the Holy Grail

Shakedown!

Indie, alt, dance and electro with residents Skullss, Veda, Celebrity Sextape, Relay and M.E.R. $5.

BAR 32

Official Foreshore Afterparty

Fedde Le Grand backs-up Foreshore to party on with you. Put your hands up!

With The Feldons, One Foot in the Gravy and Supernova.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

Live

Something Different

Jimmi Carr Band

Chilled Poetry Slam

The Sunpilots and The Glaciers

Spin your poetry without the pressure of a two minute time limit or judges.

Free entry.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Nick Cave Exhibition Event

Flying The Coop: discussion about Australia’s limited audiences at Cave’s gigs in the 1980s. $10.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

saturday november 28 Arts PLAY_PAUSE_REPEAT

Free live performance.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Cozmo Plays Oz

Mandolin ensemble compositions and arrangements by Australian composers.

WESLEY CENTRE, FORREST

Dance Pang! featuring Renaissance Man

FILTHY MCFADDEN’S THE PHOENIX PUB

Movember Fundraiser

Local bands get behind Movember with Final Lies, Double on Hearts and Caleb Skips Chemistry.

POT BELLY BAR

Kooky Fandango CASINO CANBERRA

Maiden Oz

Australia’s premier Iron Maiden tribute band return to Canberra with an even bigger show ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Something Different Miss Ink Tattoo Pageant

Canberra’s gorgeously inked ladies strut their stuff in competition for Miss Ink Australia.

THE BASEMENT

sunday november 29 Dance Jemist and Nathan Frost

M16 ARTSPACE

The Helsinki duo drop in for an allnighter of underground sounds.

Jem from 5pm, then Frost from 9pm.

Dance

Bicipital Groove

Something Different

TRINITY BAR

Rollin’ to Summer

Rev

Canberra’s weekly alternative party with The Crooked Vultures CD giveaways.

BAR 32

Faux Real 9pm.

TRINITY BAR

Jemist

Ugbeat CEO, he of the silky smooth skin.

LOT 33

9pm.

Frank Madrid

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Kosmo’s Lab

A variety of noise merchants to treat your ears and visual artists to occupy your gaze, 5pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Foreshore 2009

Live

Foreshore Summer Music Festival is back in ‘09 with Empire of the Sun, Deadmau5, Axwell and more!

KarismaKatz Duo

Shunji

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

CASINO CANBERRA

TRINITY BAR

Skate competition feat. live music from Final Lies and Still Cool. Rego from 9.30am. Free. AA. TUGGERANONG SKATE PARK

Motown in Movember

Come along, bring the kids and take it easy from 2pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

COMMONWEALTH PLACE

Sydney via Canberra, genuine legend.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

37

GIG GUIDE Nov 30 - Dec 10 monday november 30 live Bootlegs

Domus Adultus

Rattis Von Zanzebar, Ben Drysdale and Beth Monzo, Jacquie Nicole, and The Blue Ruins.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Cardboard Charlie presents Bears with Guns, Amber Nicholls, The Feldons and Cartesian Discotec.

something different

Something Different

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

THE PHOENIX PUB

Fame Trivia

Do you know lots of stuff about nothing? Come on down from 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Karaoke

9:30 ‘til 11. Cash prizes with DJ Peter Dorree from 11 ‘til 5.

PJ’s Variety Night

An eclectic mix of live music, comedians and loads of giveaways.

Kicks off at 8.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

tuesday december 1

friday december 4

Chrome

Shunji

Party on after the weekend’s over with DJ TJ from 10 ‘til late.

Shakedown!

Pool Party

Indie, alt, dance and electro with residents Skullss, Veda, Celebrity Sextape, Relay and M.E.R. $5.

Dress in your hottest summer gear and dance the night away at the Moose.

Live

The new Troublemakers label has sent their best in The Hump Day Project, Derty Rich and more.

CASINO CANBERRA

Mudd Promotions pres. Round 2 With Spoil, Escape Syndrome, Point of View, Blind Eyed Gods and Putty.

P J O’REILLY’S, TUGGERANONG

ANU School of Art Graduates’ Exhibition

Mihirangi

Think you know it all?

THE PHOENIX PUB

wedensday december 2 live

ANU ARTS CENTRE

Dance Llik Llik Llik featuring Alex Smoke

The techno heavyweight will bang out three massive hours with supports from Llik locals.

Captain My Captain

TRANSIT BAR

State of East London

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

THE PHOENIX PUB

Nathan Frost

Butchery at Bar 32 with Conan, Three Faces West, Resist The Thought, Never Trust A Bunny, and more.

Voodoo

Mr Fibby

HIPPO LOUNGE

BAR 32

Gypsy locals Mr Fibby will be joined by Melbourne’s Rapskallians.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Something Different Fame Trivia

Do you know lots of stuff about nothing? Come on down every Wednesday from 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

thursday december 3 arts Apogee / Perigee

Genevieve Swifte and Patrick Tisserand exhibition opens 3 Dec to 13 Dec.

A night of sophisticated drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep four the beat conscious connoisseur.

Live Emergenza Band Final

Finally the final has been finalised!

Come and cheer on your favourite contestant.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Guild of Destruction

With Deamon Foetal Harvest, Code of Lies and Tortured.

THE BASEMENT

Gin House

HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

The Bridge Between CASINO CANBERRA

Mr Fibby

With Mikelangelo and the Tin Star THE MERRY MUSE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Something Different

Dance

Girl Thing

Trash Thursdays

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

$2 drinks ‘til 2am and discounted cocktails. With DJs Adam, Esscue and Enz. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Jemist

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Live Olmecha Supreme

With supports Capital Dub Styles and Hieronymous IX. ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

38

Ladies Only 9 ‘til 1. Free entry until 11 pm. With DJ Tori Mac.

Cafe Scientifique - Our Energy Future ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

saturday december 5 dance Candy Cube

10 ‘til 5 with DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Sound Baked Sundays featuring Troublemakers

The Jazzebels

Filthy’s Muso Night

Trivia Night

MOOSEHEADS PUB

BAR 32

M.O.P

2009’s graduating School of Art students show off their hard work.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

arts

Something Different

Cube Sunday

HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

live FILTHY MCFADDEN’S

Dance

Chrome’s resident DJs playing goth, EMB, industrial and dark electro.

TRINITY BAR

monday december 7 live

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Aloha! Blues and Roots Hawaii

Raising funds for the Eden-Monaro Cancer Support Group with a local blues and roots lineup.

The Queen of Loops.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Gin House

HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

Bootlegs

Waterford

Cardboard Charlie presents a jam packed lineup featuring Matthew Simpson Morgan, Prelucid and more.

Waterford launch their eponymous debut EP with special guests Voss.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

THE PHOENIX PUB

The Naddiks

With 7set. 8pm, $5.

wednesday december 9

POT BELLY BAR

...Like Foxes CD Launch

Comprising three former members of acclaimed Sydney band Purplene and violinist Jason Tampake (of Firekites/ Josh Pyke band), Charge Group are finally making their Canberra debut!

Joining them will be local indie four-piece ...Like Foxes - who fall somewhere between Minus the Bear and American Football - launching their highly-anticipated EP. Also supporting are Triple J Unearthed winners Hoodlum Shouts and alt-country group Voss, who’ve just released their LP The Inland Sea. It’s an early afternoon show with the first band on at 4pm, so make the most of this weather and head out early!

TRANSIT BAR

live Fame Trivia

Do you know lots of stuff about nothing? Come on down every Wednesday from 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Carry-On Karaoke

Every Wednesday, from 9.30pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

thursday december 10 live Astrochem, Paqman, Turbulence & The Sodapops

THE BASEMENT

sunday december 6 arts Tim Minchin

Encore tour of Tim Minchin’s awardwinning Ready For This?

THE PLAYHOUSE

OUT dec 9

CORINBANK DARREN HANLON FRIENDLY FIRES HOWLING BELLS …AND MORE

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