BMA Magazine 458 - 25 February 2015

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You don’t win friends with salad # 4 5 8 F e b 2 5 Fax: (02) 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com

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

Accounts Manager Julie Ruttle T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com

Sub-Editor & Social Media Manager Chiara Grassia Graphic Design Chris Halloran Film Editor Melissa Wellham Judith Lucy Headline Brainstormer Tim Galvin NEXT ISSUE459 OUT March 18 EDITORIAL DEADLINE Mar 11 ADVERTISING DEADLINE Mar 12 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA Magazine is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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Amy’s Big Canberra Bike Ride on Sunday March 1 is in support of the Amy Gillett Foundation and Pedal Power’s push to create a safer cycling environment. The event has added a 5km leg to encourage even more people to participate, with places also still available for the 20km, 35km, 68km and 120km routes.This year participants can also ride alongside Anna Meares who is taking part as uvex ambassador to show her support for participation and cycling safety. Anna is preparing for the 2015 UCI World Track Championships in Paris next week where she requires just one more rainbow jersey to become the most successful female track cyclist in history.

The 2015 website is now open at bcbr.org.au where people can register for the free 5km ride and access full ride details and FAQs.

BLUE WORLD ORDER: ANOTHER REASON YOU SHOULDN’T MOVE AWAY FROM CANBERRA From Safia’s apocalyptic filmclip (google Ariana Grande dispute for some water cooler inspiration this week) to epic sci-fi thrillers, Canberra is notching up cinematic credits faster than you can say, err, best boy grip. Featuring Aussie film legend Jack Thompson (Breaker Morant, Great Gatsby) and Jake Ryan (Wentworth) and directed

by Canberra locals Ché Baker and Dallas Bland, Blue World Order is being filmed around Canberra this month. The film is set in 2022 as Jake Slater (Ryan) searches the wasted landscape for a way to cure his comatose daughter, Molly, played by Billie Rutherford.

When Jake meets Harris and discovers the government known as ‘The Order’, he is faced with the challenge of saving not only his daughter but the future of mankind. Canberra is an “undiscovered goldmine” for filming according to Director Ché Baker. The natural settings and existing locations in the city

FLICKERFEST: THE SHORT FILMS OF CHAMPIONS Celebrating 24 years of short film excellence, Flickerfest is Australia’s leading Academy accredited and BAFTA recognised short film festival, presenting A-list short film programmes recognised amongst the best in the world.

Flickerfest brings its Short Films Licensed to Thrill to Canberra on Thursday March 19, screening a sensational selection of cinema shorts from Australia and around the world, each handpicked from the festival’s record 2400 entries.

Flickerfest will be screening an entertaining, inspiring and award-winning range of shorts, giving local Flickerfest audiences the first look at the hottest short films in the world today. For more info head to flickerfest.com.au/tour.

brand new Canberra-based music production company 18Red Music. 18Red Music is a workshop for music creation, production and audio engineering focusing predominantly on pop, rock and electronic genres. Ray is passionate about, and believes in, the talent in Australian and Canberra music and wants to make 18Red Music a worldwide force for both scenes. The company’s ethos is to get the most out of every song and produce successful music that entertains, excites, pumps hearts, moves feet and provokes emotion. Ray has set the ambitious target of getting 100 songs into the Billboard Hot 100 charts. 18Red Music is currently seeking talented, dedicated and hard-working vocalists (as well as session musicians) to produce quality music and raise the profile of all involved. Get in touch with Ray at 18redmusic@gmail.com or facebook.com/18RedMusic.

NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE GHOST TOUR Join Tim the Yowie Man for a rare and spooky Friday the 13th ghost tour of the NFSA’s headquarters. Discover the strange, the ghostly and the disturbing stories lurking in the NFSA’s basement and under the stairs…if you dare! A rare treat for lovers of the strange and the macabre. The tour is on Friday March 13 at 9.30pm.

Entry is $35. Limited offer of only 20 places. Book early to avoid disappointment: bookings via NFSA reception: (02) 6248 2000 or rsvp@nfsa.gov.au.

The scariest thing I have to show you is the policy room at Parli House

ON YOUR BIKE: AMY’S BIG CANBERRA BIKE RIDE

famous only for its government and roundabouts, means that the low budget feature “will look more like a five million dollar film,” Baker says. “It is a real coup that we are filming Blue World Order in Canberra.

A feature film has never been done to this scale here before.

It speaks volumes that Jack Thompson, who has acted in some of Hollywood’s biggest films, is excited to be a part of this. He read the script and wanted to be part of it and I couldn’t be prouder. My vision is that Canberra will become the Wellington of Australia.

We have a perfect climate, great natural settings and an exceptionally talented crew.

We are bringing crew together who have worked on studio Hollywood films and bringing that expertise here. Our quality is international standard.” Set for release in early 2016, extra props (geddit?) if they hold the opening night somewhere iconically Canberran. I vote for the Belco Skate Park. More info on the film at bwomovie.com.

CRACKING THE BILLBOARD CHARTS ONE SONG AT A TIME Having toured and recorded with people like Julia and The Deep Sea Sirens to Kingswood Factory and MC Scotts, Ray Dickson (aka Ray101) has now launched the

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FROM THE BOSSMAN Australia in Eurovision? Brilliant. Now, Cut The Usual Shite My face nearly popped with a swell of delight and surprise when it was announced that Australia had been invited to the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Delight, because we can finally show on the world stage that we’re just as bonkers as everyone else. Surprise, because… Well… The hint is in the title, isn’t it?

EUROvision. Who washed whose bellbottoms to get us grubby convicts a ticket to ride on the Euro sequin train?

Sadly our inclusion is only a one-off and, travesty to end all travesties, if we actually win the bastard thing we don’t get to host. Instead, according to the Eurovision website, “SBS will cohost in a European city. [Australia’s] participation is intended as a one-off, but in case of a victory, Australia will be allowed to send a participant to the Contest next year.” Jesus… These all-ornothing stakes sound like the plotline to a 1001 cheesy feelgood films. Can the little Aussie battler lollop its dusty sandals onto the big, glittery Eurovision stage - along the way suffering trials and tribulations, making new friends, reconciling with enemies and, just perhaps, learning to love again - with the weight of the country on their shoulders in a do-or-die sing off? In short, we HAVE to win.

As such, debate has been rife on who will represent this Great Southern Land. It has emerged that neither Minogue sisters are in the hunt. A shame really. I’m sure seeing Kylie dust off the gold hotpants for a hyper Flume remix of ‘Spinning Around’ or Dannii launching into a spirited rendition of ‘I Still Call Australia…

Occasionally To Brag That I’m Making Shitloads Overseas’ would have brought the house down.

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

To everyone who uses a public toilet. A lock has been provided by builders for your safety and conveniance. It is warmly suggested - nay urged - by the rest of humankind to use this magical device whenever you decide to take a piss or have a shit. In this way, it will prevent decent-thinking members of society of barging into your cubicle whilst you’re unfurling the kind of Cleveland Steamer that would have you rushing to the phone to call the Guinness Book of World Records. This is all by ways of saying USE THE GODDAMN LOCK YOU BIG WEIRDY.

To the guy who poured his entire drink down my back at the CJ Ramone gig... I don’t know whether this was a failed attempt at buying me a drink, or showing me how cashed up you are by spilling said drink. And combining this with “mosh penis” will ensure you never get laid again. Keep your fluids to yourself.

But we probably won’t win because of course it’s going to be Vanessa Damn Amorosi or Tina Bloody Arena or some other bland cookie-cutter “true-blue dinky-di” Aussie act that the suit-wearing higher-ups who make these decisions seem to think captures the Aussie zeitgeist. I can just picture their meeting room now… “We need an act that appeals to everyone, especially people who don’t actually like music.” Now if you happen to be one of those people that enjoys the music of aforementioned artists - that is, people who like the act of buying and collecting music rather than actually listening to it - then I’m not one to piss on your chips. Hell, it was hard not to get swept up in 2000 Olympics fever when Amorosi’s ‘Absolutely Everybody’ seemed like the greatest song ever. But then the Games finished, the mist lifted and we realised, once again, we’d been had.

Although there is hope, as the finger-on-the-pulse SBS seem to have a solid say. If there wasn’t a ‘no previously published music’ rule - or indeed any rules of Time - we’d just wheel out Gotye to unleash an impassioned ‘Somebody I Used To Know’, or have ‘90s Acca Dacca blast out basically anything.

We could recapture the 2000 Olympic spirit by sending over Laurie Oakes to frantically play the spoons whilst enthusiastically chanting “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!” until he’s dragged offstage. Or perhaps we get Pendulum to recreate their triple j success and remix the SBS theme this time round.

Of course it’s all down to what we want. If we want the best chance of winning, send Gotye. If we want to celebrate our indigenous spirit and multicultural society, send Jessica Mauboy (3-1 odds, surely). If we want to show off our musical prowess, send Chet Faker. But if we want to be like France and phone it in with the most ridiculous thing possible, send Amorosi and Arena to do a jump-up rudebwoy drum ‘n’ bass mix of the theme tune to Neighbours. Hell, I’d vote for that.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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WHO: THE VANNS WHAT: EP LAUNCH WHEN: SAT FEB 28 WHERE: TRANSIT BAR

From a small start in Kiama, The VANNS have quickly moved through the ranks of unknowns to a remarkably well-known rock band with an infectious, killer sound. To celebrate their forthcoming EP Scattered

By Sundown, The VANNS are back on the road for their massive national tour of the same name and preparing to rock Transit Bar like never before. So join them and prepare yourself for an awesomely badass night of rock music. All kicks off at 8pm. Best bit? Entry is free.

WHO: : GORDIE TENTREES WHAT: FOLK WHEN: FRI MAR 6 WHERE: SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

What’s better than getting your folk on after a gruelling Friday?

That’s right! Nothing. Join Canadian Gordie Tentrees, his harmonica and guitar for a chilled out night of music, drinks and fabulously folky fun. With a truly well-deserved reputation of being one of the most hardworking musicians in Canada, Tentrees has performed over 2000 shows and will be bringing his a-game especially for Canberra. So if you’re looking for a great way to wind down with friends, drinks and good music after a busy day, this is it. 8pm. Tix $15–$20.

WHO: GRAEME CONNORS WHAT: COUNTRY WHEN: FRI MAR 13 WHERE: THE PLAYHOUSE

“Songs are special, in a matter of minutes they can sum up your life, make you feel completely at home, or spark a wonderful memory.”And Graeme Connors knows exactly how to write these sort of special songs and perform them like a true master.Back for the 25th anniversary tour celebration of his album North, Connors is coming to Canberra to perform the landmark album back to front, with a few extra surprises on the way. With a career spanning four decades, Connors knows how to put on a show. 7.30pm. Tickets $59/$69 from canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

WHO: SLOW TURISMO WHAT: INDIE WHEN: FRI MAR 20 WHERE: TRANSIT BAR

Slow Turismo have got it going on. After being described as “a slightly dirtier Alt-J or a poppier Bombay Bicycle Club” the local band are back with their brand new single, ‘Corners’ and an upcoming tour with Tully on Tully. After sharing stages with the likes of The Griswolds, Client Liason and Holy Holy, Slow Turismo are back with a bigger, heavier and more mature sound than ever before. Catch their fresh take on indie rock at Transit Bar on Friday March 20. Tickets TBA and time TBA.

WHO: CODA CONDUCT WHAT: EP LAUNCH WHEN: SAT MAR 21 WHERE: TRANSIT BAR

Excitingly energetic hip hop duo Coda Conduct are making their way back to Canberra for a fun, fast-paced gig to remember. The ladies are bringing their cheekiest, wittiest humour, fantastic lyrics and spot-on sound for the launch of their upcoming EP Butter Side Up. Having supported Elemont, Dawn Laird, Context, Indighost and Suavess, this is not a night you want to be left out of. So head out and celebrate what promises to be an awesome new addition to the Australian Hip Hop scene. Doors open at 8pm and tickets are $10 at the door.

WHO: RAISED AS WOLVES WHAT: PUNK WHEN: FRI MAR 21 WHERE: MAGPIES CITY CLUB

Exciting emerging band from the South Coast, Raised As Wolves, are punching their way into the Canberra punk rock scene with style. The guys are bringing their gritty guitar-heavy sound, rough vocals, catchy tunes and a myriad of supporting acts in the forms of Nerdlinger, Revellers and Adventure Sunday. So get on your best punk gear and head out for a night full of extraordinary punk rock music that guarantees to have your ears ringing for weeks afterwards, in the best way possible of course. Starts at 8pm and tickets are TBA.

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rory mccartney One of the highlights of Canberra’s Centenary in 2013 was its inaugural comedy festival. Laugh-starved locals took to it like the proverbial waterfowl to your backyard swimming pool. Drunk on their success, the 2014 event boasted a bigger line-up with over 50 shows. Guess what punters? The CANBERRA COMEDY FESTIVAL is back with a vengeance in 2015, with 60 shows in just six days. To learn more, BMA spoke to ex-local, one half of the comedy duo The Stevenson Experience and the festival’s Associate Director James Stevenson.

So, why has Canberra responded so well to the festival series?

“Comedy is a universal pattern,” says Stevenson. “Everyone likes to laugh, but Canberra just didn’t have an avenue for comedy, other than a few comedy clubs. It was the only capital without a festival, so we just made one.” This year’s event is bigger and better, with even more shows and tickets available, and more artists for overseas. There’s Ireland’s Jason Byrne, Urzila Carlson from South Africa, Wil Sylvince from the US and Mike Wilmot from Canada. Stevenson says, “Canberrans will have the chance to see people who they might otherwise only see on TV, because they never come here.” He sees getting Wilmont and Byrne as particularly notable coups for the festival.

is based.” Following its success last year, the kids’ program is back.

There will also be a link between the festival and Enlighten this year, with a UK comic presenting two parts of his Bane Trilogy.

Some early events are already sold out, with more expected to do so. “We sold out our first gala, but we didn’t want anyone one to miss out,” says Stevenson. “So the extra show is happening in The Playhouse, in parallel with the main show in The Canberra Theatre.”

Not to be confused with the children’s program is KIDSHoW (Not Suitable for Children) by national favourites THE UMBILICAL BROTHERS. BMA asked Dave Collins (the one with the long locks) about the TUB’s life and times and their new show. TUB combine jokes with a lot of physical interaction and mime, setting them apart from many other comics. The performers swap roles between the one telling the stories and the other acting out the hilarious antics. While TUB have been together for two decades or more, they have not found it harder to create new material as the years have passed. “It has become easier for us, as the time needed to come up with a new show gets shorter and shorter,” says Collins. “While this one was put together in a couple of weeks, we do need time to polish the details to put over the bones of the show.” Yet, the rehearsals are just the bedrock of the performance.

“There’s’ a lot of improvisation and, over time, the show gets longer, going from an hour to an hour and a half over a couple of months. Each night we do something different.”

Some aspects of the show need perfect timing, requiring an incredible coordination between the players, but Collins dismisses the apparent difficulty of the task. “That takes nothing at all, it’s always been there and I put that down to Shane Dundas just being so brilliant at what he does. We’re the Umbilical Brothers because we have this physical shorthand; – we knew what the other was thinking.”

Canberrans will have the chance to see people who they might otherwise only see on TV, because they never come here

The star studded line-up is boosted by top Australian comedians, plus up-and-comers. There is also a stack of ACT performers including Sparrow Folk (who take on a completely new persona and come into their own in the atmosphere of an adults’ only comedy event). Stevenson adds, “There’s myself, coming with The Stevenson Experience and Daniel Connell. We’ve sold out our shows here over the past two years, building the right conditions so that people have the chance to find a new favourite comedian, who’s from the ACT. People are passionate about seeing acts they’ve seen before, even if they haven’t been on TV.” The festival prides itself on creating a safe environment for comedians just starting out – such as Sophie Rutzou who will be doing her first gig – and get a feel for what it might be like to tour to Adelaide and beyond. The local festival has a special atmosphere, with its small size facilitating camaraderie between performers and a generosity from the audiences which you don’t always get in the bigger cities. There are some unusual fringe shows such as John Safran’s Murder in Mississippi (about his personal involvement with a white supremacist and that person’s killer), Heath Franklin’s Chopper – Repeat Offender, plus some naughty puppetry with Sammy J and Randy.

Stevenson prefers not to apply the fringe tag. Rather he says, “I like to think we have something for everyone in our program.

Safran’s show is not just comedy, it’s a literature event, as Safran won a Best True Crime Award for the book around which the show

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As for KIDSHoW, it is full of sexual and drug references and language definitely unsuitable for those under 15. Departing from their usual format, TUB play characters ‘Shavid and Dane’ rather than themselves. “We are kids TV presenters in a show where things go terribly wrong, to the point we discover that the audience is made up of adults, not children. The craziness goes on from there.” In the same vein as Play School, there are characters including Timmy (from TUB ‘Speedmouse’ show) and Larry The Hypnotic Lamb. At a recent show, one punter took such as liking to Larry that TUB had to wrestle it off him after the show. Collins assures us that the Canberra show will be special, as his partner Dundas is performing in his hometown, so he’s out to impress.

The Canberra Comedy Festival runs from Tuesday– Sunday March 17– 22, with The Umbilical Brothers at The Playhouse on Friday– Saturday March 20–21, plus more shows than you can poke a stick at. Check their website canberracomedyfestival.com.au for full details.

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LOCALITY

This column usually kicks off with a flurry of gigs, but there are so many great local recordings that have dropped in the last few weeks, or are about to wander out into the big wide world, that it makes sense to pop them right up the front.

First up is Iconoclast, the long-awaited album from the spooky poprock gentlemen of Cracked Actor, which will be available digitally and on CD from Monday March 9. Their singles ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Lemon on Your Lover’ have proven to be incredibly aurally delicious, so the album promises to be an extended feast for the ears. You can pre-order your copy at hellosquare.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclast.

If you’re leaning more towards the ambient electronica kind of vibe, Schtang have just put out their new EP, Umami. The earthy synths and world music influences are perfect for your next chill session. You can find it and take a listen for yourself at burnercollective.bandcamp. com/album/umami.

Stenxh have also got a new EP out, Let Us Kill or At Least Not Die, which sounds like it should be full of heavy guitars and the kind of guttural growls that can rattle even the soundest of bowels.

What you’re actually going to get with this release is some more relaxed electronic vibes, perfect for a Sunday arvo session. Grab a listen at stenxh.bandcamp.com.I have to confess, I was really slow onto the Coda Conduct bandwagon, but now that I’ve found them I have entered into a one-sided supremo love affair with their tunes. Thankfully, they’ve given us another hit of their hip hop awesomeness with the first single off their (successfully Poziblefunded) forthcoming EP, Butter Side Up. You can find ‘Knowledge is King’ (featuring Sydney-sider Inês) at triplejunearthed.com/artist/ coda-conduct and I don’t want to sound biased but oh my god, you’re going to love it.

In terms of gigs, it’s a little quieter on the local front at the moment, but by no means is it silent. The Fuelers will have The Phoenix rollicking, hooting and hollering on Saturday February 28 from 9.30pm with their special brand of country-rockabilly available to your ears and eyes for just $5. The Transit Bar Battle of the Bands continues its heats on both Friday February 27 and Friday March 6 from 8pm.

With Canberran artists aplenty across a range of genres, you’re sure to find something to suit your tastes. And you won’t have to pay a cent to get in! Find the full line up for each night at transitbar.com.au.The anticipation is building for You Are Here, the little festival that could, with the program launch happening on Thursday February 26 at The Street Theatre. Proceedings will kick off at 6pm, with attractions including the unveiling of all the wonderful artists who’ll be involved and tunes from DJ Degg. No word at this stage on entry price or who else will be performing/in attendance, but if you’re keen to be in the know about one of the coolest events of the year, you won’t want to miss it. Details as they come to hand will most likely be found at youareherecanberra.com.au.

If you’ve got a gig or story you reckon should be in this column, just drop me a line!

NONIJDOLL@GMAIL.COM/ @NONIJDOLL

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ian mccarthy “Pomeranians. You know them?” I’d been speaking with CRACKED ACTOR’S Sebastian Field for just over thirty minutes and somehow this is where we ended up. Perhaps it was my own ineptitude as an interviewer or perhaps it was Field’s endearingly quirky nature, but for whatever reason I felt it was completely okay to abandon what little professional integrity I possessed and utter the question, “What’s your favourite animal?” It was answered without hesitation. “They’re just cute, really. I’m a sucker for them. They’re so fluffy and they twirl around…I’d like to get one one day when I’m settled, whatever that means…”As random as it sounds, there seemed to be a trend to our conversation.

We would start with some relatively eccentric banter and then slowly work our way into more serious matters and on the odd occasion, Cracked Actor’s music and their upcoming album.

at some point and who possesses an almost contagious sense of wonder. It was around the time of this realisation that Field informed me of a newfound hobby, which certainly did nothing to curb this comparison. “I’ve been enjoying doing some woodwork.”

He remarked in an almost confessional tone. “I made a coffee table the other day… I got a big burl slab from the woodshed and shined it up all pretty…” Even more intriguing was Field’s rationale for how he came to acquire such an interest. “Well I’ve been helping Sam [the album’s sound engineer] finish off his studio for quite some time and that’s entirely wooden. He built a room within a room, but it’s left a bit of a desire to build more tangible things.”

I think that the idea of an iconoclast is something that’s pretty valid and it should be re-introduced in some form

From Pomeranians we moved onto sea creatures, for which Field holds another affinity. “You just know…when you get down to the bottom, those really, really weird ones. They’re like aliens… It’s just on the planet. There’s all this undiscovered weird shit.” Then quite naturally, our talk of the ocean led to more existential matters. “I like the idea of the universe…It’s amazing how insignificant we are,” Field laughed.

“But can I say, so insignificant that it’s completely meaningful at the same time. Isn’t that cool?”

The next serious topic was religion. “I’m opposed to controlled religion. I guess the word ‘opposed’ is pretty strong but I think it’s at a point where it’s pretty obvious that it’s all becoming outdated as a way to describe our experience. It’s unnecessary.”

Seemingly unsure of the spark behind this opinion and others despite my gentle probing, Field jokingly insisted that “I can’t remember much of my childhood. It’s a black hole.” However he did recall one of his earlier memories. “There was one time when my house was getting renovated and I was young, like six years old or something and I’d get in the habit of dragging myself along the wooden floor. It was a fun game…like a dog wiping it’s bum on the ground. But they were renovating the house and there were all these nails sticking out all over the place and I was like ‘yeah, let’s just have a look around’ and I ended up with a nail in my bum. I pulled it out of the ground with my bum and I had to go to the hospital.” It was not too surprising to find out about Field’s day job as a primary school teacher’s aid. Chatting with him in a little café reminded me of having an odd day out with a favourite uncle – an uncle who may or may not have been a science teacher

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Field’s sense of wonder is something that’s always come through reasonably well in the composition of Cracked Actor’s music and it certainly relates to the loose concept of their upcoming album, which has been titled Iconoclast. In Field’s own word’s, “I’ve been a little bit attracted to people like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins and such and I think that the idea of an iconoclast is something that’s pretty valid and it should be re-introduced in some form… It was on the mind when the album was being created and there’s a couple of songs which relate fairly closely to such an idea but you might need to pick through some ramblings to be able to get to the idea.”

Field spoke of the album’s sound just as enthusiastically as he had it’s themes. “It’s colourful. I felt like our first EP was maybe a bit two-dimensional in a way, so this is a little bit more abstracted and there’s colours and layers which are more exciting to me this time,” he said. “I feel like it hangs together fairly well. I annunciate better… and otherwise I think there’s some more unique song structures on there too, so in another way I like to consider it as being a little bit iconoclastic to the standard.”

Adding to the excitement of the album’s release, Cracked Actor are also planning a national tour to promote it. “We will be touring in late March and spilling a little bit into April just around Australia, to Perth and such.” Regarding any plans for after the tour, Field was coy, but did say, “We would look to be swift in producing something again, but I don’t want to make too rash a statement.”

Cracked Actor will be releasing their first full-length album Iconoclast on Monday March 9 via HellosQuare Recordings. They’ll be launching it on Saturday March 21 at The Street Theatre as part of a HellosQuare showcase for the You Are Here Festival.

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INDIGO TRAIL Look, I don’t know if you know this – sympathy if you don’t, bonus points and a fruit basket if you do – but JUDITH LUCY is really funny. It’s that voice – the famous monotone that can turn the phonebook into Jokes for Dummies and the Constitution into Jokes for Dummies 2.0: Political Edition. She fires off one-liners so fast she doesn’t even seem to think about them – its this kind of speed and acuity that manages to, as everyone so accurately puts it, ‘cut through the bullshit.’

Indeed, Judith Lucy is a professional bullshit-cutter and that’s part of why her new show, Judith Lucy is All Woman, should probably be required viewing. The idea for the show, which centres on women in modern-day Australia, sprang from a conversation she had with author chum Kaz Cooke. “We were having a conversation about how in the ‘80s we really thought everything was going to keep getting better – you know, we thought things like sexism and racism and homophobia would just stop and life would keep improving for everyone. Obviously, we were idiots.”

sex, but that true equality is—” here she pauses for dramatic effect. “Good for everybody.” But wait, there’s more. Not only is Lucy trumpeting the vital virtues of feminism during the week, next month she starts her brand-new comedy show’s tour. If there’s anything I learned from our chat, it’s that this woman can multitask. Especially if it involves wearing a full-body moth suit.

It’s a fact. And Lucy is planning on doing a lot more than prancing about as a fluffy, bad-tempered Lepidoptera. The new show, Ask No Questions of the Moth, is at the Canberra Theatre on Saturday– Sunday March 14–15, for its national premiere.

I ask, why moths? “Well, I’m disappointed you didn’t pick up the reference. It’s from a 12th century Sufi poem,” she says cheerily. “I thought everyone would know.” She chose a title that “for all intents and purposes, makes no real sense,” because she wanted something ever so slightly enigmatic.

“Well, you know, I wanted to do a show about life and death but I wanted it to have a name, a quote, that was a little bit mystifying while also being a little bit amusing. Plus, who knew I’d look so good dressed up as a sad moth?”

I conducted an interview while something was being injected into my vagina

Out of this dissatisfaction comes All Woman, filmed in much the same way as her 2011 show, Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey, which saw her trying on different religions and practises, holding back that barbed tongue for no man or spiritual idol. For Lucy, there is a definite appeal in the ‘humour as a gateway’ format. “My number one goal is always to be funny. If, in there somewhere, you can also explore a few topics … Basically, I like to make people laugh a little, cry a little, think a little. And I sort of think that, especially when it comes to feminism, if you don’t laugh, you cry.”

All Woman covers a range of topics over several episodes. From the first (on gender stereotyping), to the middle few on that everlasting concept of ‘having it all,’ to the last (“the glorious twilight years”), Lucy has done some wild stuff, all in the name of women. “We tried to approach things in a different way, because so much has been done on it already. So, for example, when we were looking at surgery and Botox, I decided I would interview a cosmetic surgeon while he was performing a procedure on me.”

There is the undisguised, completely devious glee in her voice.

“So, I chatted to a man…while he was enhancing my g-spot. That’s right, I conducted an interview while something was being injected into my vagina.” She pauses for a moment while I assure her that that’s definitely an original approach. “ Well of course it is – no one else would be quite that stupid,” she says.

Injections and subsequent reflections on wisdom aside, what Lucy really hopes the show will do is “Acknowledge that while we’ve definitely gone somewhere in some areas, we haven’t in others.

I mean, if there’s a general message people will take from the show, I hope it’s that gender stereotyping is not good for either

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Obviously, given the subject matter – death and menopause – Ask No Questions of the Moth is perhaps not quite what one might expect from a comedy show. But Lucy’s 2014 was, by her own admission, very, very far from her best year. “Look, I’ll be honest with you,” she says, typically blunt. “2014 sucked massive balls for me. But the good news is that a bad year in my life usually translates to quite a good comedy show.”

“I honestly think that humour is often a survival mechanism. I mean, go to any wake and it’s people getting drunk and telling funny stories about the dead person. So you know, I do often think that we deal with the shit life serves us up by cracking jokes about it.” She talks about her show a few years ago, which she performed after the death of her parents and reminisces on getting out of a coffin every night. “No coffins this time around, but I do touch a bit on death,” she says, both pensive and acerbic. At the root of it all, however, is that undeniable truth. “I think comedians thrive off tragedy,” she says. “No one wants to go along and hear ‘I just had a wonderful year! My relationship is great and my life is great!’

That’s just not that entertaining.”

In the name of entertainment then, can she sum up the show in one word? She pauses for a light second, tells me this had better be the pull quote and exclaims (with the air of someone who would type multiple exclamation marks) “It’s…hilarious!!!!”

Ask No Questions of the Moth is at the Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse from Saturday–Sunday March 14–15. All tickets $47.

Judith Lucy is All Woman is on Wednesday nights on ABC1 at 9pm.

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It’s not you, it’s me.

DANCE THE DROP

I feel like we’ve had a good run but I need some space (wouldn’t that be a great break up line for an astronaut). I’ve enjoyed being inside you for so long – well your brain at least – and thanks for reading the things that I type. This may sound like a ‘Dear John’ letter (god how much do people called John freak out every time they open an email!) but it’s not. It’s a ‘goodbye, but see you soon’ column. I’m off to the United States of ‘Merica to tick an enormous box off my bucket list – attending the Miami Winter Music Conference. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the yearly event, it’s a mecca for DJs all over the globe and it’s held over a week in Miami during spring break.

I know right! So far I’ve secured tickets to two sunset boat parties, Sasha (UK) and Cosmic Gate (GER), but there are more events being announced every day. Did I mention I’m heading there after a week in Las Vegas? Maybe this is a goodbye after all. In the interim, the venerable Peter O’Rourke will be taking the helm. Treat him well, he has nice hair and knows a lot about dance music.

Canberra is getting a well overdue taste of proper old school city clubbing with the arrival of mature star bar Mr Wolf. The venue recently opened in the old Clubhouse/Krave space and is being managed by Jared Calnan (Academy Club) so you can expect big names and quality production straight off the bat. Please get behind this people, it’s an extremely brave move in the current climate and one that was sorely needed for the scene!

Listen to Triple J? Then you’ve probably heard Linda Marigliano’s sultry pipes pumping you up on the Drive program. The ‘windows down’ party starter is headed to Transit Bar on Saturday March 14 thanks to Thank You Ma’am. I know you want to see what she looks like in person, right? You should get there nice and early so you can get stalker-ishly close to the stage to take a million selfies and only post one of them and then delete it later because ‘you looked fat’.

When I return from my brain melting Northern Hemisphere Hiatus, I want to start getting back into promoting some of our local electronic talent. This may include DJs who you may have seen on a flyer, main room headliners or even professional bedroom bangers so feel free to hit me up on email if you want to read about yourself in BMA. If you have ever partied in a forest and woken up with your face stuck to an inflated goon bag, you’ve probably already heard of T:Mo. His resume includes massive alternative parties like Dragon Dreaming, Regen, Subsonic, Burning Seed and Psyland. Impressive.

Here is the enigmatic psy-master’s current top five tunes to take you into the weekend.

HVOB – ‘Always Like This’ (Andhim remix) – Stil Vor Talent Rosario Galati – ‘Deep in My Chest’ (Vanilla Ace and Dharkfunkh remix) – KNM Tom Budden, Forrest – ‘Some Kind of Friend’ (Copy Paste Soul remix) – Alive Recordings Thankyou city – ‘Satochi’ (Subsonic Music) Kozber – A Night Food (Cartulis Music) Adios amigos!

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TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

@bmamag

cody atkinson All of life’s stories have a point of commonality at the start.

Everything ultimately begins and ends with the same point, a singularity for which even time and space cedes authority to.

Forget the research of the talented men and women at CERN, I know the force that holds the universe together and I’m willing to give it away for free. It’s not money, or power, but instead the opinions of one hip hop artist. Cody Atkinson gently implores you to read on below.

So Kanye West did a thing again, right? Yep, he did the thing that he is perhaps best at...

Releasing a killer album? No...

Dropping a mixtape? Nope...

Marrying a Kardashian? Nada...

Well then? Kanye got some reps at storming the stage at an awards ceremony.

Cheap joke there...In his own way, Kanye provided the most apt critique of the bloated 76 year old corpse of a ceremony, implicitly suggesting that if artists like Beyonce don’t win and artists like Beck do, what’s the point of the Grammys anyway?

Wait, does anyone still care about the Grammys? Didn’t they die in a fiery wreck 12 years ago? Half arsed research shows that they are as watched now as they ever were before, with 25 million people in the US alone watching this year’s ceremony.

What is unknown, however, is how many people take them seriously these days.

Hence Kanye’s reaction...Yep. He got pissed that a shadowy group of “experts” had the temerity to disagree with his heartfeels about Queen Bey. Which is why he then went on about “artistry” and other shit. He’s pretty much just like the rest of us: wanting his opinion validated by others.

OK, let’s go a bit broader, is there a place for any music awards?

Yes and no. Given the sheer amount of music out there these days, those sweeping “everyone is nominated” awards, like the ARIAs and the Grammys become folly. If you try to cover the entire industry (or a significant proportion of it) in one foul swoop, you’re bound to piss someone off.

How about the smaller awards, like the Polaris Music Prize or the Australian Music Prize? The smaller niche awards seem to have a narrower focus and are more transparent in nature, but have a goal that is just as fraught. How the hell are you meant to judge, out of the hundreds of albums released, which singular one is worthy of both praise and a big prize?

How the hell are you meant to judge, out of the hundreds of albums released, which singular one is worthy of both praise and a big prize?

What, you mean that people don’t really care who wins “Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package”?

It’s a shock, right? It’s hard to take it seriously when you have Tenacious D winning an award for best Heavy Metal song, which was a cover of a Dio song from 1984. There are about a billion awards that anyone can win, but no-one can name who wins a year after the ceremony.

A billion? I dunno, maybe two billion? No one actually knows how many there are to be honest. There’s so many that they form a separate season these days, award season. Award season people, award season.

What’s the weather like during award season? Stuffy and pretentious.

So who cares about music awards? Musicians, mostly. It’s pretty cool to have people tell you that the thing you’ve slaved over for months and years is actually, you know, good. Regardless of who it’s coming from, it’s a phenomenal feeling.

Let’s step it back even further. Why does anyone care about awards other than the artists? People love ceremonies. Fuck, the only thing modern day society loves more than formal ceremonies, if that is even possible, is having their opinions either agreed with or disregarded. “HOW DARE YOU GIVE XXXX AN AWARD I WILL CUT YOU!”

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Settle down... People love it when their subjective views about things are backed up by other people, especially when those people are experts. Likewise, people also love it when their strongly held views are told by others that they’re wrong.

Even if the goal is a little bit lofty (to find the one best album), the sheer weight of the reward at least provides some worth to the casual observer. Even more important is the fact that these types of awards generally have a clear list of judges, who often state their reasons for their decision. But to be honest, those awards seem more like grants to me. And not to sound cliché, grants seem to be the new awards.

Grants? Yeah, government or private sector grants, financial awards that give artists the freedom to create their own work free of some of the restrictions of a commercial record label arrangement. They are more or less what the bigger awards are not: tangible, transparent and immediately beneficial. If a band wins an AIR Award, they might get a small sales bump. If they get a Government grant, they probably will get $10,000 in their back pocket to record their next album, or tour overseas. If recognising and fostering art is the goal, one method seems inherently more useful and worth celebrating than the other.

Wait, aren’t grants just another name for awards? No... (looks up dictionary) OK yes they are. You know what I mean. They’re mostly the same but kinda different. They’re done in a different way, unless they’re not...Get off my case here, it’s been a long day.

So, if I’m getting this straight, we should get rid of awards? No, just care about them less. Or maybe get rid of a few to make them worthwhile. And make the judging somewhat visible to those who do care about the outcomes, instead of being shrouded in secrecy like ASIO files.

And Kanye? Kanye’s gonna Kanye.

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unlikely to happen because I make it seem endearing. So anyway Jye, it’s on like Donkey Kong (the first time Jye and I met, we were playing Super Smash Bros in Cary’s garage. Cary’s an issue for another time.) Perhaps I should now move onto my actual job and write about some shows…

In last issue’s column I wrote about my good punk friend Jye. He read the column but only because I made him. If the punkest person in Canberra doesn’t read my punk column, than what am I worth?

A printed Nirvana tee from Jay Jays? No thank you. I’ve decided to combat this issue by mentioning Jye in every column without notice from now until I receive a message that reads something like “Dude, please stop writing about me all the time. It’s getting creepy,” or alternatively until our dear Editor realises that my unprofessional shenanigans are bringing her publication into disrepute, which is

Melbourne’s Clowns are headed to Transit Bar on Monday February 26 as part of their Bad Blood Tour. They’ll be supported by the USA’s American Sharks and the recently announced local support, Yoko Oh No. On that very same evening, Monday February 26, you can also catch Sydney’s Zeahorse at The Phoenix along with locals Primary Colours and Sydney’s Agency.

On Tuesday March 2 RVIVR’s Erica Freas will be playing a house show at the dwelling of the Stand Your Ground promoters. She’ll be joined by San Francisco’s Hot Tears along with locals Swoon Queen and Passive Smoke. This show will cost you $10 on the door.

If you’re into acoustic folk-punk (who isn’t?) then you should be heading down to the Magpies City Club on Thursday March 5 to catch Adelaide’s Heath Anthony and Ry Kemp with local support from Shelby Clements and Jack Livingston.

New Zealand’s Carb on Carb will be in the capital on Thursday March 12. You can catch them at Transit Bar with support from Wives, Agency, and the debut of power-poppers Hospital Pass.

Entry to this one will cost you just $5 before 9pm or $10 after.

On Saturday March 14 you can catch beloved locals Primary Colours and Honey as they kick off a joint mini-tour. They’ll be at The Phoenix with support from Newcastle’s Bare Gryllz.

Ulladulla’s punk protégé’s Raised As Wolves will be at The Magpies City Club on Friday March 20.

Joining them will be Sydney’s Nerdlinger along with locals Revellers and Adventure Sunday.

This one will also be all ages.

Those are all the shows for now.

In the meantime if you happen to see Jye on the street (big red Mohawk, could be up or down) please point him in the direction of a BMA stand. Or don’t. I’m kind of having fun with this game.

IAN McCARTHY PUNK.BMA@GMAIL.COM

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METALISE OK so it’s Soundwave month. I got a fair few emails the last four weeks from folks asking me why I haven’t covered much Soundwave news this year. If I didn’t reply to you in person, here’s the skinny. I don’t really think I need too. Why? Because it’s a juggernaut. If you aren’t going already or to the “sidewaves”, google it. I want to try and maintain support for primarily local content and tours that aren’t hitting stadiums. Besides, AJ Maddah doesn’t mind a tweet go – follow him and your Soundwave cup shalt runneth over.

I guess I could see Priest again, but being an old fart, I feel like I saw the headliners all play in their primes and I’m not feeling the urgency this year. But I hope those of you attending love it and have a great day – mail me your reviews.

One great Aussie tour announced recently is the long awaited and as yet uncertain line up configuration of Adelaide’s intensely heavy Space Bong. The band have a pretty storied legacy amongst their peers as every time I go to Adelaide, nearly every band I’ve met have their own crazy stories about their adventures of excess, acrimony and sheer unbridled heavy riff forging. They have a single out entitled ‘In Doom We Crust’ and have a new LP entitled Deadwood To Worms out through FALSExIDOL and Art As Catharsis in March.

They’ve teamed up with Horsehunter, a great Melbourne doom band who has already racked up a number of high profile supports down in Melbourne for a national tour entitled the Bonghunter Tour. Their initial launch is at a fest called Dopefest happening at the Tote in Melbourne on Saturday March 14 headlined by another great Adelaide band Hydromedusa that is well worth a look if you’re in town. They’re coming to The Phoenix on Thursday March 19 with great local band Machine Genova opening proceedings. Good times.

German band The Ocean have been plying their progressive wares since 2001, releasing six studio albums, the last of which was Pelagial in 2013. Late last year had a personnel change with the departure of guitarist Jonathan Nido and drummer Luc Hess. Paul Seidal replaced Hess, but the Australian connection begins with the band announcing Aussie Damian Murdoch filling Nido’s role.

The benefit to Canberra heavy prog fans is that the band are touring and dropping by The Basement on the Wednesday April 8 with Brisbane band Caligula’s Horse who have some slick progressive chops of their own.

It would be remiss of me not to remind you guys of the Psycroptic national tour with New Orleans’ blackest residents Goatwhore at the Basement on Saturday March 25. The band has just launched a new video from their forthcoming self-titled album on Prosthetic records on YouTube called Cold and you can catch them with Disentomb, Ourobouros and I Exist.

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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

TAKE NOTE ZOE PLEASANTS This year, as part of the experimental arts festival You Are Here, Canberra will host its own, home-grown writers festival, NOTED. Canberra hasn’t had a writers festival for five years and the inspiration to start one up again happened serendipitously. Gorman Arts Centre offered a group of artists, including ten writers, the use of a disused theatre, free of charge, with no strings attached for two months. In that theatre, writers Yasmin Masri, Farz Edraki and Zoya Patel saw that Canberra had a healthy functioning writers’ community which was just waiting to be given space and an excuse to come together. Inspired by this, they formed a committee with the idea of running a festival. Former BMA editor Ashley Thomson, who was also writing in the theatre, joined them along with Lucy Nelson, Duncan Felton, Chiara Grassia and Andrew Galan. I caught up with Thomson to talk about Noted.

I ask Thomson what he was hoping to see come out of this festival.

“More than anything else, it is to see an un-pretentious, grassroots writers festival focused on invigorating and connecting the Canberra writers community become a fixture in the ACT,” he says. “Because there should be one and it just takes a group of eight random people to meet by happenstance and decide that this needs to be done to get done.”

As Noted is partnering with You Are Here, it is being run as an experimental writers festival. Thomson explained that this means the outcomes of the festival’s events are more unknown particularly when compared with the outcomes of traditional writers festival events such as panels, workshops, Q&As and presenter based one-on-one conversations. Noted is running some of these traditional events “But we’re also going to run impromptu and guerrilla writing workshops around Canberra in certain locations to see how location affects what people write and their responses. We’re going to run an online, twitterbased story telling thing where we get authors to riff on an idea and we have no idea how their story is going to turn out.”

The festival will be divided into three streams: Notice, Notification and Take Note. Notice will be feature the live events such as Q&As, workshops and performances; Notification will feature events being held online; and Take Note will feature interactive workshops that will give writers a chance to turn their inspiration into creation.

These events will be part professional development, part textual experimentation such as the guerrilla writing sessions.

Noted will be held in smaller venues, cafes and bars in Civic and Braddon. Thomson is hoping this will help draw a diverse crowd to festival as the organisers want Noted to be a festival for everybody, not just for writers. And then Thomson gave me a lesson in grammar.

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“There is a way of running a writers festival which puts the possessive apostrophe after the ‘s’ in writers. This says that it’s a festival for writers instead of a festival of writers. We’re not using the apostrophe. Again you have to get pedantic when you’re running a writers festival! And the reason we’re not is because we want it to be for everybody, whether they’re readers, performers, writers or just casual passers-by who we just happen to catch at the right time of day in the city centre.”

Writing is usually a solitary activity but despite this, or perhaps because of it, Thomson has found all the writers contributing to the festival have been really keen to collaborate with others. “That’s one of the interesting things about this festival…almost every single artist – and we’ve got 42 now – came to us and said ‘here’s what I can do, could you please pair me up with someone with whom I can collaborate?’ It’s amazing, collaboration has perhaps become the cornerstone of this festival,” says Thomson. “We have poets interacting with visual artists, story writers pairing up to create something – it is the absolute opposite of one person alone in a room with a piece of paper!”

Of course, after the festival most will return to the solitary life of writer. “But a festival gives you the opportunity, just for that short time, to perhaps spark an element of your imagination or that capacity for your craft that you would never have a chance to realise otherwise. Or at least, that’s the theory,” says Thomson. “And there’s a real infectiousness about writers festival, especially young writers festivals – they’re just hotbeds of new thoughts and ideas. You come away from them with a sense not only of your own potential as a writer but of the potential of the form.”

Towards the end of our chat ,Thomson and I discuss what Canberra offers writers. In response to this Thomson tells me a story about author Phillip Roth and how when he is thinking of writing a new novel he lives in New York for a couple of months, but when he is ready to put pen to paper he retreats to his quiet house in its beautiful, green setting. “I think Canberra is that place,” says Thomson. “But so many people are not ready to have the self-control to take control of what Canberra offers you as a writer, which is enormous amounts of free time and, if you can sustain it, a clear head. But I think you have to earn a clear head and so many of us haven’t, which is perhaps why we are getting together to create a writers festival so we can make some fucking noise because it is too quiet for us!”

Noted will run from Friday–Sunday March 20–22, in and around Civic. All events are free. For more details go to notedfestival.com.

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IN REVIEW

Sweet Charity The Playhouse Wed –Sat Feb 11–21 As every musical theatre enthusiast is aware, a good show ain’t nothing without a catchy, captivating number. Not only does The Helpmann Award-winning production of Sweet Charity have a bunch of catchy, captivating numbers and witty one-liners, it also manages to bring the fun, laughs and incredibly good times.

Sweet Charity’s biggest numbers were performed with zest and zeal, including the famous ‘Big Spender’ and the ever fabulous ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’.

Although these songs were undoubtedly standouts, they were easily matched by the hilarious ‘The Rhythm of Life’ and the utterly poignant ‘There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This’.

At the heart of the performance, Australian actor Verity HuntBallard stars as not so bright, slightly naïve, yet undoubtedly

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loveable Charity Hope Valentine, who works as a dance hall hostess in New York City.

Sweet Charity tells the story of Charity’s wish to leave her dance hall hostess life behind for something better and tells of her hope to one day be swept off her feet and away from her wretched job by a man who could give her the life she always wanted.

As Charity, Hunt-Ballard brought her A-game and belted out the show tunes with oomph that the Energizer Bunny would envy. She also managed to pull off the role with the perfect balance of pain, naivety and humour without being over-the-top and unbelievable.

Image credit: Mark Turner

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When you have a leading lady as strong as Hunt-Ballard, it can be hard to find a leading man who can take it to the same level. Luckily, this production of Sweet Charity found a match in the remarkable Martin Crewes who played alongside Hunt-Ballard as both Italian film star, Vittorio Vidal and the neurotic everyman, Oscar Lindquist.

Had Hunt-Ballard not been quite so charismatic, Debora Krizak, who played fellow dance hall hostess and Charity’s dear friend, Nikki, would have easily stolen the show with her stellar voice and captivating performance.

Sweet Charity is known for its zany, energetic dance numbers and fantastically jazzy tunes and this production managed to live up to the shows’s reputation, toeing the line of humour and quirkiness to utmost perfection and leaving the audience laughing out loud at any given moment.

They also managed to cast the audience into complete silences as they felt the pain, sadness and heartache of the characters that the talented cast portrayed so wonderfully.

The sets were simple and colourful and worked beautifully with the entire performance. The performers were extremely talented and managed to successfully engage the audience at every given moment.

It takes a lot of talent to pull off a musical this well and the cast of Sweet Charity just make it look damn easy.

This is a production that takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions that you’ll never want to end and I can’t recommend it highly enough. nicola sheville

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IN REVIEW The China Philharmonic String Quartet, Supporting The Griffyn Ensemble National Library of Australia Thursday February 12 The Griffyn Ensemble — young accomplished musicians led by Michael Sollis — revisits in its Global Chronicles series historical occasions otherwise liable to slip from memory. This first in the series, Whitlam in China, commemorated an event pivotal to present-day Chinese–Australian relations: the 1972 visit by the late Gough Whitlam to China while Whitlam’s Labor Party was still in opposition. The visit, disparaged by Prime Minister Billy McMahon as verging on treasonous, prepared the way for China to become Australia’s major trading partner shortly afterward.

Along with Sollis (director and composer) and soprano Susan Ellis, the Griffyn Ensemble is an interesting mix: Holly Downes, playing double bass; Chris Stone, on violin; Laura Tanata, on harp; and Kiri Sollis, on flute. Sollis’s introductions of the various pieces on the programme illustrated not only the government of the day’s shortsighted racist parochialism (so what’s new?) but also Whitlam’s resounding political and diplomatic acumen in wooing the highest tiers of Chinese government — a government that few nations recognised as legitimate and that had no diplomatic presence in Australia until after Whitlam’s, and then Nixon’s, visits there. The music itself spanned East and West, both in origins and in execution.

The Griffyn Ensemble’s instrumental lineup, classically western, was joined for this concert by Professor Hongyan Zhang, preeminent player of the pipa — whose sound, very like that of a banjo with an

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occasional plaintive downward wail, will be familiar to you. Except for an occasional rest, Professor Hongyan played throughout both as soloist and in ensemble, adding the pipa’s touching tones even to Radiohead’s “Like Spinning Plates”.

The concert could serve as gentle initiation into both western and Chinese classical music though the pieces are more modern; and as initiation into both consonance and dissonance. The narrative’s perceptiveness of Whitlam’s brilliance, and the subtle cheekiness and musical playfulness of several Griffyn members, only added to a performance already both faultless and charming. The Griffyns’ next Global Chronicles programme, Rugby League Remembrance, commemorating an “infamous” test match between England and Australia, is scheduled for 25 and 26 April at the Belconnen Arts Centre.

For those who were in the know or who (as did I) happened to turn up a little early, an awkwardly shaped foyer space (standing room only!) outside the Library’s theatre hosted a performance by another export-quality Chinese musical entity: four leading players from the China Philharmonic Orchestra, who play as a string quartet under the name China Philharmonic String Quartet. Comprising violinists Chen Yun and Yan Ke, violist Mao Xinguang, and cellist Guan Zhengyue, the quartet, technically faultless and obviously wellrehearsed, also showed a quality that not all technically proficient musicians share: musicality. A fine forerunner, the quartet played Chinese folk pieces (which, interestingly, it has also done over seas with folk musicians including pipa player Professor Hongyan Zhang).

JOHN P. HARVEY

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

ARTISTPROFILE: Claire Lenehan

What do you do? I’m a political artist. I work predominantly in watercolour but I also make print. At the moment I am focusing on politicised faces and the juxtaposition between politics and the powerless people those politics can affect.

When, how and why did you get into it? I have been interested in art ever since I was a small child. My mother used to take me to exhibitions at every opportunity and I used to do art classes during the holidays. In about year 10 all the scribbles I was making as a kid suddenly turned into well-formed drawings and that was about the time I realised I was actually pretty good at art. That is the main reason I got into art, I wanted the best way to convey the thoughts and images in my head to the world around me without restriction.

Who or what influences you as an artist? I have a lot of influences as an artist, some of them lasting and some temporary. I try and see as many artists work as I can, but I mainly seek my inspiration from the news, odd documentaries I’ve discovered on youtube and feminist publications.

Of what are you proudest so far? I think right now the thing I am most proud of is my part in the new exhibition at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Trauma and First World Problems. Seeing them all on the one huge wall just brought home to me the impact of this project.

What are your plans for the future? I plan to finish my double degree while making (and hopefully showing) more art. I also have a budding plan to paint portraits for commission so I will be focussing on that too!

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What makes you laugh?

Right now I’m addicted to watching Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

What pisses you off?

Our government’s policy of cruelty towards Asylum Seekers and gendered violence. Don’t even get me started!

What about the local scene would you change? If I could change anything it would be Canberra’s interstate reputation in regards to up and coming artists. I always have to explain to friends from Sydney that we do actually have shows here, but I think that has more to do with their prejudice than our reputation.

Upcoming exhibitions? I have an exhibition at the Belconnen Art Centre from Fri–Thu Feb–Mar 20–12 and another at CCAS Manuka on Thu Jul 23 with the talented Alycia Moffatt.

Contact Info: clairelenehan.wix.com/prints-watercolours

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bit PARTS GUILTY PLEASURES WHAT: Art exhibition WHEN: Wed–Sun Feb–Mar 25–15 WHERE: ANCA Gallery “An elegant tea set with a nostalgic brown glaze is combined with the form of a T-rex figurine, teeth-baring, head standing in for the spout and the T-Rex’s infamously feeble arms protruding from the sides of the teacups.” Emerging artist Shaun Hayes explores the weird and wonderful contemporary world through the use of fantastically strange yet brilliant ceramics. Explore the odd, yet somehow genius combination of toys and sculptures that mark Haye’s signature style of ceramic art. A style that manages to be eccentric, surprising, but most of all fun and fresh. Opens Wed Feb 25 at 6pm.

PHOTOACCESS EXHIBITIONS WHAT: Art exhibition WHEN: Thu–Sun Feb 26 – Mar 22 WHERE: PhotoAccess Manuka Art fans! Prepare for the opening of three awesome new exhibitions.

Bill Lucas’ China in Eighteen Days 1978 presents a body of simple yet stunning works made in China after the cultural revolution. Stephen Best’s Out West is an experiment in pinhole photography and displays the beautiful landscape of New South Wales in a unique and interesting way. Kai Wasikowski’s work Taking Liberties invites you to reflect on the liberties we take as consumers and the impact we have on the landscape. Talk with Wasikowski Sun Mar 1, 2pm; talk with Lucas Sun Mar 22, 2pm. Opens Thu Feb 26, 6pm.

ANCA OPEN DAY WHAT: Art WHEN: Sat Feb 28 WHERE: ANCA Gallery Come one, come all to witness some of Canberra’s most awesomely exciting art and artists. With ANCA Gallery’s opening day you get the chance to check out some sweet art, eat a bunch of good food, listen to some great live music and have a really fantastic afternoon out.

You’ll even get a chance to chat with some of Canberra’s up and coming artists and watch their processes first hand. And if that’s not enough, why not check out ANCA’s current solo exhibition Guilty Pleasures by Shaun Hayes? Entry is free and the event runs from 3–7pm.

HANDLE IT WHAT: Theatre WHEN: Fri–Sun Mar 13–15 WHERE: The Street Theatre Image credit: Ken Kelsall

‘Once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever’ – a concept that rings true now more than ever. We all know that privacy is hard to come by now that social media is such a huge part of our lives and with the leaked celebrity nudes scandal only last year, this play is more relevant than ever. Meet Kelsey Armitage, an 18 year old whose life is turned upside down when compromising pictures of her are uploaded onto Facebook.

From playwright Laura Jackson, Handle It explores the impact of social media on the lives of young women. Tickets $20 at thestreet.org.au.

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37

the word

on albums

album of the issue Twerps Range Anxiety [Chapter Music] Melbourne four piece Twerps have been making fidgety pop music since 2008, although only have a handful of releases to their name. After recording second album Range Anxiety in 2013, Twerps released their EP Underlay, which was recorded after the album, a year later.

A lineup change saw Twerps enter the studio with Alex MacFarlane from The Stevens (bass player Gus Lord has since joined the Twerps lineup too) behind the kit.

The song is an instant earworm, with guitarist Julia McFarlane’s crisp vocals yet again providing a good counterpart to Frawley’s scratchy voice. Naive love song ‘White As Snow’ , with it’s soft coo of “poor little girl/living in a dream” feels like a close cousin of The Scientists’ ‘That Girl’. In a similar vein, the dorky ‘Love At First Sight’ is a hearton-the-sleeve ballad. Even the most mundane thoughts become poetic – “Hey there postie, is there anything for me?” McFarlane sings on ‘Adrenaline’.

Wistful but hopeful, this is music to waft out of suburban bedrooms on warm days.

Range Anxiety feels cohesive – an album as opposed to a collection of songs. The songs melt into each other.

The mood shifts slightly and individual voices appear and disappear while that jaunty Juno synth worms its way into ‘Back To You’. Like their previous material, it’s indiepop in the Flying Nun and Slumberland Records sense of the term – pure pop hooks wrestle with rough edges.

Touches of synth feel cheeky against the jangley guitars and earnest vocals; music that’s playful but not straightforward. It’s no surprise why Merge wanted to snap them up – Twerps’ sound is a natural fit with their roster of smart, observational pop.

Despite the delay in releasing the album, Range Anxiety does not feel outdated. Rather, quite the opposite. In Range Anxiety, voices tangle together – songwriting duties are passed around rather than falling solely on singer Marty Frawley. While Underlay’s eight tracks were characterised by sharper angles and jerkier pace, Range Anxiety (despite the name) is less frantic. Instead, the songs feel like deep breaths and drift along.

Closer ‘Empty Road’ starts off sweet and slow, with Frawley’s vocals reminiscent of Graham Coxon’s nasally drone. It works well, especially since the song feels like the more dawdling moments of Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish. There’s a slight sinister edge in the refrain of “that’s when I knew/I was following you” that cuts through the sweetness.

Easily one of the highlights of the album’s thirteen tracks, it’s a killer of an ending for a solid album.

Alone, synth-driven opener ‘House Keys’ would be a bit of a throwaway track, but it works as a prelude to the slow calm of ‘I Don’t Mind’.

chiara grassia

Various Artists The Art of McCartney [bulletproof] Songs from the pen of Paul McCartney have a catchy appeal which gives then a timeless quality. In a kind of super Like a Version, many of his most well-loved hits have been recorded by some very big names from the music world and brought together in one collection. McCartney was such a prolific songwriter that 36 songs have been laid down on two CDs in an attempt to present a decent cross-section of his work.

The tracks cover both his Beatles and Wings periods, dating from the mid-60s up to the late 90s. Unsurprisingly, the incredible Band on the Run LP gets very good coverage.

Apart from Owl City and The Airborne Toxic Event, most of the artists have been around for a good while, with Dion dating back to the rock n’ roll 50s. The choice of artists is pretty conservative too. Anyone hoping for Slayer or Marilyn Manson covering ‘Mull of Kintyre’ will be disappointed. The nearest we get to an Australian in the mix is Barry Gibb’s ‘When I’m 64’, using a vocal tone that’s unrecognisable, compared to his signature soaring voice. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by Australian heavy rockers ‘The Zoot’ would have been a worthy inclusion. The most alternative artist on the plastic is Perry Farrell from Jane’s Addiction, with ‘Got to Get You Into My life’.

Arrangements are generally close to the originals, no doubt to preserve their appeal for dyed in the wool McCartney fans.

Notable departures include the accordion backing for Willie Nelson on ‘Yesterday’ and a countrified rendition of ‘Things We Said Today’ by Bob Dylan. Highlights easily go to a sultry, rocked-up ‘Letting Go’ by Heart and the harmonies in ‘Wanderlust’ by Brian Wilson.

RORY McCARTNEY (no relation)

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Sincerely, Grizzly halves [Black Night Crash]

capes We Saw A Bear [self-released]

Dean Blunt Black Metal [rough trade]

Adelaide-based trio Sincerely, Grizzly have spent the last couple of years since their formation building momentum with a series of EP releases, and now this debut album Halves finally offers up their first longplayer on Black Night Crash. The band’s busy last year spent on tour is certainly reflected in the ten tracks here, which see Sincerely, Grizzly nailing down their adept balance of ferocity and restraint to even more precise levels. As with previous releases, it’s often hard to pin down the trio’s sound. While there’s certainly a strong kinship here with hardcore punk (particularly in frontman Joshua Calligeros’ screamed and curiously US-accented vocal delivery), it’s balanced out equally with influences that fall much closer to post-rock and indie.

The first Capes transmission (five tracks, very available on BandCamp) has supplanted agreed masterworks like ‘Return Of 4Eva’ or ‘Safe As Work’ on my car aux-cord several times in recent weeks, and (thus) is either a fluke or (more probably) a turn of genius. In a bare 18 minutes of postNirvana pre-Arcade Fire earnest rock music, the youngest greatest band within ACT limits undercut themselves at every turn (for not being better organized, for not being cool enough, or nice enough) and still come off as good-hearted, beautifully groomed, savvy, suavely awkward, and consistently empathetic. The four new adults put across their personality politely, so you’d think they were meeting their girlfriend’s parents, and they put across so much more than you sense they could in that situation.

This is a lazy record not necessarily worthy of your time – unless you’ve an interest in wasting your time.. then you might get around to giving it 2 stars in Canberra’s BMA. The first three tracks of Dean Blunt’s Black Metal are confounding at best, offering a tired take on British shoe-gaze.

Too many bad drum machine jams, too much drab singing. Without the necessity of writing a review of it, I would forgive you for stopping the CD and going to the kitchen for some yummy gluten free pasta. But since we (you and I) are here doing this then lets continue. Black Metal’s fourth and fifth tracks, ‘100’ and ‘Heavy’ do some good work in reviving some interest, the former being a sweet and sweaty jingle featuring familiar collaborator Inga Copeland, the latter being a swirl of repetitive wonky string samples and mutterings of self questioning and doubt. By the time that Black Metal’s sixth and seventh tracks come along, it is perhaps when one might latch on to the actual purpose of it’s existence, though..

To replicate that uncomfortable feeling one might get when they’ve been at ANY drinking establishment for too long. The friends you actually like have left, there’s only that one annoying guy who talks to you about his general poor functioning in life, if you’ve a romantic interest he or she is long gone. Maybe now the record is awarded some merit having succeeded in making you feel this way. I don’t like it. I think it’s a waste of time. The last track ‘Grade’ is interesting, it features some nice saxophone squelches.

After ‘A Pickle For The Knowing Ones’ opens proceedings with a rush of soaring guitar distortion building against electronically manipulated background chatter, ‘Future History’ leans closer to the sorts of post-hardcore extreme shifts in dynamic favoured by the likes of At The Drive-In as Calligero’s alternately screamed and clear vocals stretch out over thundering power chords and muscular, almost math-rock drumming. Elsewhere, ‘I’m Nucky Thompson, This Is Atlantic City’ sees the tension unwinding slightly for a more nineties alt rock-centric ride through messy overdriven guitar chords and dense tribal drums that hints at a more propulsive take on Dinosaur Jr’s fuzz, before ‘Nightwatchman (I’ll Bite My Tongue)’ stretches out into widescreen post-rock territory as effects-treated walls of chiming guitars burn away against colossal drum beats and trailing feedback, in one of the few instrumental moments on offer here. All up, Halves is an extremely impressive debut album from an Adelaide band worth keeping an eye on. chris downton

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Live, the giant sheets of Orange Amp guitar noise enrich melodies that here feel only unimposingly great. With a lyricsheet, Oliver Queen’s laugh-lines scan as if they were written in tandem with the diatonic lead guitar and flurried drums. His mouthpiece, Matthew Winders, strains his neck tendons and goes red in the face in the sole aim of emasculating himself, or whatever persona he (or Queen) inhabits right now. They don’t want to hurt her feelings, that’s the thing. And whether “her” is an actual acquaintance (or several) or a fiction detailed down to her schedule conflicts, they’re conscious enough of her emotions that they overcome their own self-consciousness and replace it with some resembling self-acceptance. Universal love, maybe even. On a guitar record, these days?

Nah. cary longman

Black Metal is the product of a scenester (of UK’s Hype Williams fame) trying to prove himself as an artist of worth but it does not hit the mark (2012’s Black Is Beautiful is better). If you have happened to listen to this already, and you like it, I would like to bet Australian dollars on the strong chance that you will forget about it before some months are over. sebastian field (Ed note: I gave it 4 stars)

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Jakob sines [Valve]

Slim Twig A Hound at the Helm [DFA Records]

New Build Pour It On [Sunday Best]

While I have to confess to not being familiar with Napier, New Zealand-based instrumental post-rock trio Jakob before now, a quick check reveals that they’ve been something of a creative powerhouse in their homeland since forming back in 1998. As well as releasing three albums and touring fairly relentlessly, they’ve also managed to attract the acclaim of big names such as Isis and Tool, both bands specifically requesting that Jakob open for them on international tours. It’s certainly not hard to see what attracted the likes of Maynard James Keenan to Jakob, as the trio certainly craft a similarly oceanic progressive meets art rock sound to that famed Californian four-piece.

Canadian actor and part time singer/ songwriter Max Turnbull, aka Slim Twig, has released numerous EPs and LPs under his own stage name and as a member of other bands, including Tropics. Turnbull’s postmodern, experimental work is a slap in the face to conventional music, preferring song arrangements which have all the surprises and bizarreness of a combined rollercoaster/ghost train ride at the Show.

Al Doyle and Felix Martin are no strangers to collaboration, having worked together as members of Hot Chip since 2001, but their 2012 debut album alongside composer Tom Hopkins as New Build Yesterday Was Lived And Lost saw them veering away from the indie elements of their ‘main’ band and into deeper electronic territory.

Three years on, this second album Pour It On sees them offering a collection that’s if anything, slicker and more polished than its predecessor. The focus upon synth-pop fuelled melancholia akin to the likes of The Human League or Heaven 17 remain firmly in evidence, but it’s matched here with the trio’s obvious love of classic house tracks, the appearance of 808 toms at several points clearly indicating where New Build’s heart is at.

In truth though there’s less of a metal focus to the tracks collected on this fourth album Sines (the band’s first new album in eight years) and more of an emphasis upon soaring post-rock meets shoegaze influences, with Mogwai’s powerful yet melancholic roar in particular emerging as a touchstone here. ‘Blind Them With Science’ tears open the gates with a widescreen roar of densely textured trailing guitars and crashing live drums, taking things off into majestic crescendo of fretwork and feedback that seems to continuously ascend off into infinity, before ‘Emergent’ takes the resulting glowing embers and sends them off on a slowburning wander that sees cinematic string arrangements gradually fading into focus alongside delicately burnished sounding guitars.

Elsewhere though, ‘Darkness’ sees the guitar feedback peeling away in favour of swirling synth pads and elegant keyboards, the shift towards electronics seemingly feeling effortless. While they’re lesser known than a variety of other bigger overseas names, this fourth album from Jakob sees the NZ trio punching well above their weight.

A burst of strings signals the beginning of ‘Heavy Splendour’, but don’t be lulled into your sonic comfort zone too quickly. This orchestral opening quickly gives way to an electronic wail, with distorted singing that sounds like it’s coming from a deep well.

‘Clerical Collar’ continues the exaggerated singing theme, alternating between deep and bright vocal tones. The percussion and bass are deliberately out of sync in ‘Widow, Were You Younger’, the discordant music accompanied by vocals that go all over the place in this directionless track. Turnbull lapses into a more orthodox style in the bouncy, catchy melody of ‘All This Wanting’; easily the disk highlight. There’s a minute of monotonous repeated notes at the start of ‘Hover on a Sliver’. Has the disk jammed? No folks, it’s really meant to be this way.

Turnbull actively challenges listeners to put aside their usual expectations of pop structures and dares us to appreciate vocal combinations and unmelodic tunes that defy accepted rhythmic patterns. Anyway, that’s enough of the arty spin. If you are into cacophony, then knock yourself out.

However, it’s hard to find much to like in this LP. While its odd nature arouses some curiosity, it’s not something you would come back to after inquisitiveness is satisfied. rory mccartney

‘The Sunlight’ opens things gently at first as vast walls of brooding analogue synths build against Al Doyle’s New Wave-tinged vocals, only for a crisp 4/4 kickdrum pulse to lock in halfway, taking things out into a shimmering outro section that’s part motorik glide, part Chicago house. If the aforementioned track hints at the deeper dancefloor influences being explored here, ‘Your Arrival’ manages to conjure associations with Dubnobasswithmyheadman-era Underworld as Doyle’s vocals merge into a smooth linear flow alongside smeared ambient synth pads and a dark throbbing trance / techno pulse. Elsewhere, ‘Strange Networks’ drops the tempo down in favour of wiry post-punk grooves, sending modulated synths squealing against a jerky drums and bass synth groove, that much like the lyrics manages to be paranoiac and uplifting at the same time. While some of the material here literally blurs past, this is a strong second offering from New Build. chris downton

chris downton

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v

singles in focus by cody atkinson Speedy Ortiz ‘Raising The Skate’

The Veebees Outta Ammo [Ocker Records]

Dan Bodan soft [dfa]

Locals The Veebees formed in 2000 with the aim of having some very serious fun by not taking anything, especially their music, seriously. With a fondness for crude humour and wild gigging at beer soaked venues, they Christened their genre ‘Grog Rock’.

Dan Bodan originally grew up in Montreal before relocating to Berlin eight years ago, a geographical shift that’s definitely had an influence upon this debut album Soft, though not necessarily in the ways you might first expect. Indeed, Bodan states that the ten tracks collected here had their origins when he began writing songs to soundtrack his train journeys through the city whilst trying to make sense of it all. Whatever the case, the music here sits a long way from the punk-funk aesthetic readily associated with the DFA label, instead centring around downbeat electronic soul anchored by Bodan’s own impressive vocals. Given the blending of emotive, often melancholic yet soaring soul vocals and subtle, loop-based electronics, perhaps the most apt comparison to be made here is with the post-club likes of James Blake and Mount Kimbie.

Veebees by name and VBs by nature, there is no window dressing on this collection, their fifth release, of blokey rock. ‘Grog rock’ can be translated as garage, with a healthy dose of punk, as reflected in short fast songs with shock troop quality vocals.

Guitars come in ragged, flannelette edged bursts, with the voice of frontman Norro dominating the tracks in an album with a lo-fi recording quality. Arrangements are deliberately simple with easy riffs and a few wild licks, so it doesn’t matter if the band has to play them when its members are three sheets to the wind. As a result, there’s not a lot of difference between tracks. There are lots of whoa-whoa yells from the band, who sound as though they might have had a few during the production process.

There are some AC/DC like riffs on ‘Fair Dinkum Rock n’ Roll’ (in which the late Bon Scott gets an honorable mention) and guitar highlights feature in the title track and ‘Tommo’s Gone to Argentina’, with its driving rhythm embossed by wah-wah licks. However, the ladies are unlikely to be attracted to themes of cars, beer, rock n’ roll and trouble with women. At times, the lyrics descend to the level of ‘Skid marks in me undies, I’ve got nothing to wear’. A fun band to see live when you’ve had a few, the music of The Veebees is somewhat lacking when listened to on CD, cold sober.

RORY McCARTNEY

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‘A Soft Opening’ lives up to its title as blurred synth notes and delicately plucked guitar strings provide a gossamer backdrop for Bodan’s vaguely Martin Gore-esque obsessive-romantic lyrics, the sloweddown, heavy-breathing rhythms that kick in towards the end highlighting the sexual undertones. Elsewhere, ‘Anonymous’ conjures up closer associations with trip-hop as clicking hip hop beats lock into place against twinkling melodic pads and Bodan’s melancholic vocal introduces a weary-sounding sense of nostalgia, while elsewhere ‘For Heaven’s Sake’ sits closer to the sort of the thing you might expect from Jeff Buckley (complete with sampled coffeehouse applause). If it marks one of several instances where Bodan veers towards overly gooey smoothness here, these moments are nicely balanced out by the likes of ‘Catching Fire’, which sees the lyrical knives coming out against an ominous backdrop of edgy breakbeats and dark surging bass. chris downton

Scrappy. If you give me one word to describe ‘Raising The Skate’, it’d be scrappy. Guitars flail in the in and out of the foreground and Sadie Dupuis shoots out the sardonic and the ironic with increasing fury. ‘Raising The Skate’ is kinda impressive, in the way that’s not trying to be overtly impressive at all.

A Place To Bury Strangers ‘Straight’ If a simple descending bass riff is the heart of ‘Straight’, then a cacophony of guitar noise is its raison d’etre. APTBS get a little weird on this track, with pedal noise piercing Oliver Ackermann’s deadpan delivery, but the end result is a catchy one.

Jonny Telafone ‘Inferno’ Ex-local Jonny Telafone bows down to the alter of the processed vocals gods on ‘Inferno’. Synth squals hit from all angles, with sparse electronic percussion slowly nudging the track on. A late guitar solo breaks up the synthetic soundscapes, which while meandering isn’t boring.

Maroon 5 ‘Sugar’ HEY EVERYBODY, MAROON 5 HAVE A NEW SINGLE! Wait, where are you going? To Siberia? Or anywhere that you can’t ever hear this song again? Because this song is one of the most ordinary pieces of dreck you’ve heard in years? Fair enough. That’s kinda what I thought too.

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the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

After so many weeks of reviewing consistently great films, with all that Oscars Bait being released, it feels a bit disappointing to return to the year’s regular programming.

Recent releases like The Interview and The Gambler just aren’t as satisfying when you’ve been on a Birdman high.

Luckily, there’s still superb releases like Selma – already being unfortunately ignored

by Australian audiences – if you feel like watching something a little more substantial.

quote of the issue “Our lives are not fully lived if we’re not willing to die for those we love, for what we believe.” Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo), Selma

The Interview

Fifty Shades of Grey

The Gambler

The Interview was always going to be overshadowed by the controversy that preceded it, given that the film caused the North Korean government to threaten “merciless” action against the United States, and was at the centre of the Sony hacking scandal. And then amidst the scandal, vicious rumours began to swirl that The Interview, well, just wasn’t that good.

Most film reviewers agree the easiest reviews to write are about films you have a passionate reaction to. In fact, sometimes the negative ones are bashed out on the keyboard within minutes. Hence why I’m reviewing Fifty Shades of Grey. Who could resist Dakota Johnson’s clumsy yet deep Anastasia Steele? Or Jamie Dornan’s… Christian Grey?

This film is a grown-up thriller, with an unfortunately simplistic screenplay. It’s slick, smart and mostly fast-paced, with periods of tedium. And it’s a film that can’t decide if it’s condemning or condoning high-tales gambling.

As Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joked during the Golden Globes this tear, “North Korea threatened an attack [if Sony released it], forcing us all to pretend we wanted to see it” – and that North Korea’s censure “wasn’t even the worst review the movie got.” It’s almost tempting to believe that Sony faked the threats themselves, in order to increase digital sales…

The one thing that makes that scenario completely implausible is that The Interview actually isn’t that bad. The second directorial effort from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (following This Is The End), The Interview follows flamboyant talk-show host Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen), as they manage to land an interview with Kim Jong-un – and then get recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. It’s funny-ish, with a weird blend of pointed political satire and ‘dick and fart jokes’. Franco hams it up with Rogen as his straight man, and the bromance is appealing.

At its best absurd, at its worst senseless; it’s definitely too long but it’s solid. melissa wellham

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We all know the story. FSOG is for the people who suffered through the Twilight series thinking they were getting three books of foreplay and then spit the dummy when the fourth book didn’t deliver the goods (puritanical author who likes their Victorians straight up didn’t pen some steamy sex??).

Enter FSOG, Twilight fanfic with spanking.

I could write thesis on the A to Z of how and why this movie sucked so hard (HA). Instead I’ll focus on two main flaws. One, watching Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan simulate sex was like watching two cardboard cutouts bump against each other. Newsflash: having two generically attractive actors mash genitals on screen does not hot sex make. Chemistry.

Look it up.

Second, the film showed a fundamental lack of understanding about how BDSM works. It’s not an avenue for fucked up billionaires to pursue because mummy didn’t love him. (Wonder who he spanks to work out his daddy issues?)

More scathing reviews to come, I’m sure the final book will be split into two films.

EMMA ROBINSON

Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) is both an English professor and a high-risk gambler – two seemingly incongruous identities that result in Jim delivering a lot of lengthy, cutting monologues about the state of literature, that are really not-so-subtle metaphors for his disillusionment and self-disgust. His life exists in a precarious balance – until he borrows from a notorious gangster (Michael Kenneth Williams) with his own life as collateral, and a loan shark called Frank (John Goodman).

In the time that it takes to roll a pair of dice, his balance is lost.

Mark Wahlberg turns in a great performance as Jim, managing to walk a fine line between being completely unlikeable or overly sympathetic. John Goodman is fun while still remaining faintly menacing, and actress Brie Larson does what she can with a bit part as Bennett’s romantic interest.

While The Gambler features some great performances, the parts are not enough to make the whole work. The film suffers an identity crisis, as outlined at the beginning of this review.

Ultimately, it doesn’t grip as it should – but The Gambler goes all in. Unfortunately there are no points for trying in the world of gambling. Only winners and losers.

MELISSA WELLHAM

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Citizenfour

Selma

Citizenfour is a documentary about Edward Snowden, but it’s more than that. It’s both an intelligent and clear explanation of 21st century privacy, while working as a real-life thriller. It also explains what metadata is better than George Brandis.

Directed by Laura Poitras – whose previous films have explored post-9/11 US society, terrorism and torture – Citizenfour is on the ground with Edward Snowden as he makes his decision to blow the whistle on covert surveillance operations being run by the NSA is the US. And the reason it’s on the ground with him is because Poitras started receiving encrypted emails from him in 2013, and she’s been on the case since.

Selma tracks a three month period when Martin Luther King Jr (David Oyelowo) led a campaign to secure equal voting rights for black Americans.

Citizenfour is strangely undocumentary-like, preferring to instead show the story as it unfolds. This is more of a livestream than a structured series of interviews, showing what happened behind-thescenes when Snowden made the decision to go public. It’s an absorbing character study.

At the same time, Citizenfour manages to provide simple, clear explanations of what the surveillance operations actually involved, as well as their implications – and the instances in which they incriminate the government of lying to its citizens. Citizenfour doesn’t present any alternative points of view, and that is perhaps to its detriment – but it also tries to avoid being too polemical.

It’s fascinating, sobering and should be required viewing.

These issues will affect us all.

No matter what country we are from.

MELISSA WELLHAM

Selma succeeds by staying in the moment, and screenwriter Paul Webb’s focus on the events on 1964/65 spare the grandiose mess of tracking King’s entire life and the pitfalls of a traditional biopic. The slow reveal is that the Civil Rights Movement was driven by more than just one man. The political jostling, reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, shows the strategic steps King and his advisors took to instigate change.

What elevates Selma from the historical drama traps is director Ana DuVernay’s skill in making the story intimate.

King is a huge historical figure but in a scene where he’s is confronted by his wife for his infidelity, he’s presented as fallible. In another scene where police clash with protestors, there’s a connection to every character and each act of brutality is frightening.

There’s not a weak spot in the cast, and the true testament to the ensemble is the impact the characters with barely any dialogue have on the entire film. At the top end there’s Oyelowo who is all class as King. At the other end there’s Keith Stanfield, playing a protestor, who barely utters a word but whose actions send shockwaves through the film.

Selma houses an astonishing story told with grace and I bow down to Queen DuVernay.

CAMERON WILLIAMS

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43

the word on dvds

44

Jimi: All Is By My Side [madman]

Nas: Time is Illmatic [madman]

To attempt telling the story of Jimi Hendrix on film without any of his actual music, is either the gutsiest directorial decision ever or foolhardy to the extreme. It’s an extreme handicap, to put it mildly.

Where many of his cohorts in the late ‘60s were busy playing rock gods (Page, Plant, Jagger, Richards, Daltry) Hendrix worked hard to let the music explain where he was coming from. On stage theatrics like flaming Strats and playing behind your head were definitely part of his routine, but Hendrix seemed almost unfashionably egoless.

Every report matches and suggests he was a sweet, kind and gentle guy off-stage. He wasn’t especially hedonistic although he certainly dabbled.

He came into his own on stage and in the studio, especially the epic Electric Ladyland – a flat out classic of sonic adventurism and futuristic songwriting. So how exactly do you capture the essence of Hendrix without a single Hendrix song? I’m guessing the producers were thinking Andre Benjamin.

Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the release of Illmatic, an album that catapulted Nas into the big-time. It was an unseemly confident debut. But it was no happenstance. Nasir Jones was marked for success years before Illamtic was released in 1994 and quickly became recognised as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Time is Illmatic is a valedictory ride around the boroughs of Nas’ youth, told in large parts by his brother who hasn’t been quite as lucky in charting an escape from the poverty of suburban New York City.

Benjamin’s performance is without caveat, astounding. He seems to get everything spot on. The sly verbal delivery, the look, the serpentine movement and all the subtlety Hendrix had, but was not always acknowledged for. It must be noted though, Benjamin’s fretboard mechanics didn’t match up. It seems they bet it all on Benjamin and even though he is great, the film around him feels a little flat. It covers the years just as he breaks into the mainstream in the UK. Fair enough, nothing wrong with limiting scope to cover structural gaps (the music) but it shows. Because what we get is too much cod philosophy and not enough boundary pushing.

His early years as a gun guitarist for hire are skimmed and his barnstorming time leading Band of Gypsys are – again, by design – left out. Ultimately, All Is By My Side is incomplete and frustrating. justin hook

Even though all docos have a tendance to adore their subject, this is one of the few times it seems appropriate. Nas’ father was an accomplished musician who – though largely absent in the young rapper’s life – made sure his support was well known; as did his mother. When you live below the poverty line, having parents who back your ‘hobby’ to the hilt is rare. I guess this partly explains Nas’ confidence. On the other side, the Jones family grew up in the projects which meant crime, shootings and drugs. It’s raree that a cliché actually lives up to its premise, but for Nas it did.

And the plentiful footage of his brother describing where shootings happened and who died where. Jump cut to Nas in a penthouse – yeah we get the point. Nas may have got luck but he also had talent.

But this doco is more than the Life of Nas. It’s the story of the streets and neighbourhoods that made the album possible and occasional fade edits remind us the world of Illmatic was real. Nas doesn’t ignite with a righteous anger, he’s more slow burn. And that’s exactly why this doco is so great. It shows us how he made it happen, how he refused to become another statistic and how through it all his family had his back. justin hook

Mork and Mindy – The Complete Series [PARAMOUNT] According to Robin Williams, Mork and Mindy came about because Garry Marshall’s son had just seen Star Wars and asked why there were no aliens in Happy Days. Being the creator and executive producer of Happy Days, Marshall had plenty of leeway to do whatever he wanted and so Mork (Williams) made a cameo appearance in early 1978. So popular was that appearance that the thenunknown Williams was given his own show. Watching these 35 year-old episodes, the thing that stands out the most is how fully-formed Williams was in the early days. Every verbal tic and non-stop mannerism was already in place. The whiplash jumps between thoughts and topics were just as explosive in 1978 as they were in 2008. The amazing thing about Mork and Mindy is that for everything that befell the series – increasingly poor studio decisions that shifted timeslots, attempts to youth-ify it and marrying off the two lead characters – Williams’ Mork was the one true constant. Mork came from planet Ork and was sent to Earth because he didn’t really fit in on his home planet.

After being mistaken by the kindly Mindy (Pam Dawber) for a Father of the cloth, Mork finds a home in suburban Boulder, Colorado. In the initial episodes Mork spends much of his time marvelling at the unusual customs on Earth. Fish out of water stories are nothing new, but with Williams’ manic energy driving the engine the results are entirely unpredictable.

Indeed, large gaps were left in the script for Williams to skat all over the joint. Eventually though, the series did feel like it was running out of steam and the introduction of Jonathan Winters as Mork and Mindy’s son (a Benjamin Button scenario) was a fitting farewell and allowed Williams to riff with one of his idols. After this Williams would soon become a superstar, but it’s obvious he already was.

JUSTIN HOOK@bmamag

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the word

on gigs

Gooch Palms, TV Colours, New Age Group, Thunderbolt City The Phoenix Saturday February 7 Thunderbolt City are another brand new band on the block and one largely made up of the components of other local bands, such as TV Colours and Mind Blanks. Playing a short set, Thunderbolt City unleashed some pretty solid, straight-up punk. With a standard power trio set up of bass, guitar and drums, the band ground down through power chords and solos to find something pretty tops, especially considering they were first up.

New Age Group aren’t The Fighting League. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, they are a little bit like The Fighting League.

Sure, most of the members are different, but the one that they do have in common is frontman Dom Death. The guitar flourishes have been reigned in and Dom has saddled up with a guitar instead of being allowed to roam free at the front of the stage. As a result everything seems a little bit more refined. Not like black-tie refined, but bloody honest punk rock and roll nonetheless. New Age Group bring the crowd in through the set with simple yet powerful tunes leading the way.

TV Colours are the realness. They are Canberra, probably more so than any other band in town right now. Slated as their last show for a while, Bobby Kill and his offsiders put in one of their best shows in recent memory. Hell, it was one of the best sets I’ve seen at The Phoenix since the re-opening. As likely one of the final shows to feature the fantastic Puprle Skies, Toxic River in depth, they sent it out in style, in front of a more than eager crowd. The momentum of the set was only quelled, briefly, when a guy in the front lost his glasses, sparking a frantic search to avoid optical failure. With a fill in bass player (Peter Krbavac, doing triple duty on the night), TV Colours sounded as tight as they ever have, mixing in new instrumentals and super old tracks like TV Glow into their well worn set.

On stage, Gooch Palms kept it basic: two drums, two mics, one guitar. Why complicate things when you can get such a good sound out of what you’ve got? With this uncomplicated set-up, they somehow coaxed a set of furious garage rock, leaning both punk and pop at times, but distinct from both.

Guitarist Leroy McQueen was a force unto himself, slowly unwinding as their set progressed. He leered into the crowd, declared that he dyed his mullet Raiders Green, stripped his pants off and dived into the crowd, bare-arse first, like an Ocker Iggy Pop. Plenty of musos are showmen, few bother to keep playing at the same time. His counterpart on the kit, Kat Friend, just played it off and kept playing, barely missing a beat, unaffected by the antics.

To get a lot of Gooch Palms appeal, you have to keep Newcastle in your mind. Their debut album and best song, is named after what they are: Novo’s. This tour served as their (temporary) farewell to Newcastle and Australia, to try to make the big leap to the states and potentially a bigger audience. One which, on the balance of this night’s show, they are more than deserving of. cody atkinson

PHOTOS BY MEGAN LEAHY

46

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47

the word

Chet Faker, Roland Tings, GL Royal Theatre Wednesday February 11

on gigs

PHOTO BY DALE WOWK

It was a bit of an experiment (plus a golden commercial opportunity of course) to see how this show would translate from the cozy ANU Bar to the cavernous (by Canberra standards) Royal Theatre.

Electro-dance duo GL combined creamy beats from Graeme Pogson with the soulful vocals of Ella Thompson. The music flowed in gentle swells, soothing rather than exciting, before picking up towards the end of the set which ended with the funked-up, multi-vocal loops of ‘Grip’. The dance vibe was palpable, but hardly anyone was moving.

Knob twiddler Roland Tings’ set should have come first, as it was hard for a no-frills producer to follow the more vivacious opening act. His club quality grooves would have fitted beautifully in the torrid, vodka powered atmosphere of Academy, but they got lost in this venue. When the performer is dancing more than the audience, many of whom were sitting on the floor, that’s a fail. However, with a drummer and guitarist in support, Nicholas Murphy, aka Chet Faker, swept all that away, weaving a web of sound that galvanised the punters. Much more than a bearded guy with a laptop, he moved between the keyboards scattered about the stage in a vibrant performance. There was flair and abandon in his manipulation of the instruments and, when immersed in just singing at the mic, his gestures captured the emotion of the songs. The intrinsic life force of the music was irresistible, capturing the crowd in its thrall.

Besides plenty of content from ‘Built on Glass’, the set included a cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’, a song Murphy said he grew up with. Kept for last, ‘Talk is Cheap’ was delivered in a halting style, with the crowd teased by pauses in the song.

RORY McCARTNEY

the word

on gigs

PHOTO BY ERICA HURRELL

48

C.J. Ramone, Hard-Ons, No Assumption Transit Bar Wednesday February 11 I tend to avoid the mosh pit these days, although I’ve never been much of a mover anyway. But I do know things are going well when I start nodding my head more vigorously than would occur if standing in the self-service line at the supermarket and this is what happened about ten seconds into the Hard-Ons slot at this somewhat nostalgic gathering of first rate punk bands. Although veterans of the Australian indie scene, the Hard-Ons once again turned in a high energy set that shifted gears between micro blasts of speed punk, melodic pop teasers and slower paced workouts with heavy, almost stoner like grooves punctuated by searing lead guitar breaks. Fantastic all the way and this band is still on top of their game after many years of doing this stuff. Local openers No Assumption got things going with punk rockers of the old school kind that would have done well in ratty UK venues circa 1977. Their set was a celebration of times past that became much more overt when C.J. Ramone hit the stage with band in tow and essentially gave the audience what they had come to see without anyone actually admitting it – a tasty selection of Ramones classics performed by a bona fide Ramone who didn’t actually join the band until 1989 but was near enough to the action to lend the proceedings some authenticity. To be fair, C.J. Ramone has put out a number of decent solo albums and his music provides a taste of the harder edged 1980s New York punk scene. But when the band ripped into Ramones staples like ‘Judy is a Punk’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’ the crowd duly erupted and as I try and fathom the unusual vibes of the day job almost a week after the show, that insanely catchy chorus of complete relevance still ripples through my brain: ‘I wanna be sedated’.

DAN BIGNA

@bmamag

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wed Feb 25 - Thurs Feb 26 Listings are a free community service. Email editorial@bmamag.com to have your events appear each issue. wednesday february 25 Art Exhibitions Trauma and First World Problems

Live Music CMC Presents

Prom & Reuben Ingall Cassette launch. $15/$12/$10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

18 Feb-12 Mar. In Foyer.

On The Town

Judith White: Transit

Hump Day

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Paintings & works on paper. 5 Feb – 3 Mar. Free.

BEAVER GALLERIES

The Other Side: Her Riot

12 Feb - 1 March. Wed-Sun. 12-5pm.

Opening 12 Feb at 6pm. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Freehand

Works by Ann Thomson. Free. Exhibition 20 Feb-4 Apr. Opening 19 Feb at 6pm.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Alchemists’ Paradise: Tommy Balogh

12 Feb - 1 March. Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

Opening 12 Feb at 6pm. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Tom Rowney: Studio Glass

Glass work. 5 Feb – 3 Mar. BEAVER GALLERIES

Spaces and Beyond

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb, 5.30pm. Runs until 15 Mar. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Inside the Box

By Aaron Garlick. Opening 6pm 19th Feb. Wed-Sun. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Craft ACT Exhibition Openings

3 Art Exhibitions grand openings. Feb 12. 6pm. Exhibitions run from Feb 13 – 28 Mar. CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Guilty Pleasures

By Shaun Hayes. Art exhibition. 25 Feb - 15 Mar. ANCA GALLERY

New Work

By Aaron Garlick. Opens 6pm 19th Feb. Continues until 28 Feb. Wed-Sun 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

The Bald Archie Prize 2015

Art competition. 6th Feb - 9th March.

10am-4pm. Entry $5.

WATSON ARTS CENTRE

As It Goes

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb at 6pm to 8 Mar. 11am-3pm Mon-Fri, and 11am-4pm on weekends.

NISHI GALLERY

Contemporary Visions of Aboriginal Art

Warlpiri Artists curated by Catherine Jaktman. 12 Feb - 1 March. Wed-Sun. 12-5pm. Opening 12 Feb at M16 ARTSPACE

Blaze Nine

Showcase of emerging Canberra Artists. Opening 6pm 20th Feb. Continues until March 28. Wed-Fri 11am-

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Unfold and Construct

New works by Phoebe Porter. 13 Feb 14 March. Opening 13 Feburary 6pm.

BILK GALLERY

Get over the hump with drink specials after 5pm.

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different Circa Beyond

Dazzling acrobatics, a surreal atmosphere and a pinch of cheeky animal fun. Tickets $40-$55.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Trivia Tranny Trivia

Questions with Glamour. 8pm. Free.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

thursday february 26 Art Exhibitions Taking Liberties

By Kai Wasikowska. 10am-4pm TuesFri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

China: Eighteen Days 1978

By Bill Lucas. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Marcel Marceau “Out of silence”

Opening 26th 7pm. Exhibition from 26th Feb to 19th Mar. ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

Out West

By Stephen Best. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Live Music Jazz Trio

With Lachlan Coventry & Rachel Thoms.

8pm. $10/$15.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Chicago Charles & Dave 9pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Thursday Jazz

Lachlan Coventry & Rachel Thorne.

7.30pm. $15/$10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Zeahorse

With Primary Colours & Agency. 9pm. $5.

THE PHOENIX BAR

The Cherry Pickers Blues & Party Grooves.

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB

Clowns

With American Sharks (US) & Yoko Oh No. 8pm.

TRANSIT BAR

On The Town 4some Thursdays Free entry.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Thurs Feb 26 - Sat Feb 28 Playtime

On The Town

TREEHOUSE BAR

Locals Do It Better

Something Different

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Top 40, Dance, RnB. 10pm. Free entry.

Circa Beyond

Dazzling acrobatics, a surreal atmosphere and a pinch of cheeky animal fun. Tickets $40-$55.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

$5 before 11pm.

Art Exhibitions

Flava R’nB

Unfold and Construct

DJ Daz, Songz & Trigga. Free.

TREEHOUSE BAR

Something Different

Shaken & Stirred

Enlighten 2015

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Burlesque. 7.30pm. Tickets $20 politbar.co.

Life Drawing Workshop

Every Thursday. 1pm. Price info 0414 271 311.

BELCONNEN COMMUNITY CENTRE

friday february 27 Live Music Peter/ Name the Band

saturday february 28

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

Circa Beyond

Dazzling acrobatics, a surreal atmosphere and a pinch of cheeky animal fun. Tickets $40-$55.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Regrowth Festival

4 day festival of art, music, and ecological restoration. 27 Feb - 2 March. Tickets $190/$250 at reBERLANG FOREST

New works by Phoebe Porter. 13 Feb 14 March. Opening 13 Feburary 6pm.

BILK GALLERY

Trauma and First World Problems

18 Feb-12 Mar. In Foyer.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Bubble ’n’ Squeak

BEAVER GALLERIES

The Other Side: Her Riot

Works by Ann Thomson. Free. Exhibition 20 Feb-4 Apr. Opening 19 Feb at 6pm.

8pm. Free entry.

TRANSIT BAR

California Dreaming

California Dreaming – the music of the Mamas and the Papas CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Warlpiri Artists curated by Catherine Jaktman. 12 Feb - 1 March. Wed-Sun. 12-5pm. Opening 12 Feb at

Blaze Nine

Showcase of emerging Canberra Artists. Opening 6pm 20th Feb. Continues until March 28. Wed-Fri 11am-

Live Music

Theatre

Battle of the Bands Heat #3

By Stephen Best. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar.

Taking Liberties

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

MR WOLF

Out West

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Live music. 5.30pm.

NISHI GALLERY

12 Feb - 1 March. Wed-Sun. 12-5pm.

Opening 12 Feb at 6pm. Free.

M16 ARTSPACE

Akouo

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb at 6pm to 8 Mar. 11am-3pm Mon-Fri, and 11am-4pm on weekends.

M16 ARTSPACE

Paintings & works on paper. 5 Feb – 3 Mar. Free.

Floortalk Exhibition: Marcel Marceau

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

As It Goes

Judith White: Transit

M16 ARTSPACE

Vander Aa

12pm. Discussion with Elisabeth and Andreas Cameron Dalman/ Shane Breynard. Free. Booking essential.

WATSON ARTS CENTRE

Contemporary Visions of Aboriginal Art

Talks

With Wallflower & Slow Turismo. 8pm. $10.

Art competition. 6th Feb - 9th March.

10am-4pm. Entry $5.

By Michele England, Dash Kossmann & Fran Meatheringham. 22 Jan - 8 Feb. Wed-Sun, 12-5pm. Opening 22

5pm afternoon session/10pm Band.

Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

The Bald Archie Prize 2015

By Kai Wasikowska. 10am-4pm TuesFri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar.

Heuristic

Freehand

Jack Biilmann

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Alchemists’ Paradise: T ommy Balogh

12 Feb - 1 March. Wed-Sun, 12-5pm.

Opening 12 Feb at 6pm. Free.

10.30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Myself To Blame album launch. With Jimmy Pike, Josh Veneris, PJ Michael & Minh Ha. 4pm. Free.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

The Fuelers 9.30pm. $5.

THE PHOENIX BAR

M16 ARTSPACE

The Necks

China: Eighteen Days 1978

THE STREET THEATRE

By Bill Lucas. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Marcel Marceau “Out of silence”

Jazz music. 8pm. Tickets $35 from thestreet.org.au.

The Vanns

EP release. 8pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Katie Noonan: Concert By The Water

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

With Katie Noonan & Uncle Jed. Doors at 6pm, music at 7pm. Tickets $45/$35 at ticketek.com.au.

Tom Rowney: Studio Glass

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

On The Town

BEAVER GALLERIES

Miss Ausfrilia 2015

Opening 26th 7pm. Exhibition from 26th Feb to 19th Mar.

Glass work. 5 Feb – 3 Mar.

Spaces and Beyond

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb, 5.30pm. Runs until 15 Mar. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Inside the Box

By Aaron Garlick. Opening 6pm 19th Feb. Wed-Sun. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Craft ACT Exhibition Openings

3 Art Exhibitions grand openings. Feb 12. 6pm. Exhibitions run from Feb 13 – 28 Mar. CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Guilty Pleasures

By Shaun Hayes. Art exhibition. 25 Feb - 15 Mar. ANCA GALLERY

Beauty pageant & live music. 28 Feb. 7pm-10pm. $30/$27.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Love Saturdays

With Exposure. $10 before 12am.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Ventures

Thank You MA’AM club night. $10.

TREEHOUSE BAR

Retro Night

70’s, 80’s & 90’s Alternative & Mainstream.

MAGPIES CITY CLUB

Something Different Enlighten 2015

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Circa Beyond New Work

By Aaron Garlick. Opens 6pm 19th Feb. Continues until 28 Feb. Wed-Sun 11am-5pm. Free.

Dazzling acrobatics, a surreal atmosphere and a pinch of cheeky animal fun. Tickets $40-$55.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

50

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Sat Feb 28 - Thurs Mar 5 Regrowth Festival

4 day festival of art, music, and ecological restoration. 27 Feb - 2 March. Tickets $190/$250 at reBERLANG FOREST

sunday march 1

Karaoke Karaoke Love

Art competition. 6th Feb - 9th March.

10am-4pm. Entry $5.

TRANSIT BAR

Freehand

Karaoke. 9pm. Free entry.

Karaoke on Demand

8pm. $5. Info at politbar.co.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

Live Music

Live Music

Irish Jam Session

Tate Sheridan Trio

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

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

6.30pm. $22/$15 on 6248 5538.

THE GODS CAFE

Rodney P

Something Different

TRANSIT BAR

Enlighten 2015

8pm. Presale via Moshtix.

The Bald Archie Prize 2015 WATSON ARTS CENTRE

Works by Ann Thomson. Free. Exhibition 20 Feb-4 Apr. Opening 19 Feb at 6pm.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

As It Goes

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb at 6pm to 8 Mar. 11am-3pm Mon-Fri, and 11am-4pm on weekends.

NISHI GALLERY

Out West

By Stephen Best. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar.

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

3pm. $10.

Trivia

CMC Presents The Evolover Lounge 7.30pm. $10/$15/$20.

Something Different

Andrew and Shannon’s Pub Trivia THE PHOENIX BAR

$50 for show. $98 for dinner & show.

6.30pm.

On The Town Love and Other Chemicals SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Enlighten 2015

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Regrowth Festival

4 day festival of art, music, and ecological restoration. 27 Feb - 2 March. Tickets $190/$250 at reBERLANG FOREST

monday march 2

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Trivia. 7:30pm.

wednesday march 4 Art Exhibitions Blaze Nine

Showcase of emerging Canberra Artists. Opening 6pm 20th Feb. Continues until March 28. Wed-Fri 11am-

Live Music

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

CMC Presents The Bootleg Sessions

New works by Phoebe Porter. 13 Feb 14 March. Opening 13 Feburary 6pm.

8pm. Free entry.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Something Different Enlighten 2015

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Book Launch

In The Spirit of Banjo, Recent Adventures of Tim the Yowie Man. 6pm.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Regrowth Festival

4 day festival of art, music, and ecological restoration. 27 Feb - 2 March. Tickets $190/$250 at reBERLANG FOREST

tuesday march 3

Unfold and Construct

Hands-on exhibits to surprise your senses and challenge your mind. 9am5pm. Until May 2015. Admissio QUESTACON

Trivia Tranny Trivia

Questions with Glamour. 8pm. Free.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

thursday march 5 None Heath Anthony

With RY Kemp, Shelby Clements, Jack Livingston & more.

MAGPIES CITY CLUB

Art Exhibitions

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist

Bonegila Bound

TRANSIT BAR

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

With D’Opus, Tone Def and Faux Real.

7pm.

On The Town Renegades of Rhythm

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist. 7pm.

TRANSIT BAR

By Anja Loughhead. Opening 5 Mar at 6pm. Wed-Sun. 11am-5pm. Free.

Live Music Casey Golden Trio 8pm. $10/$15.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Taking Liberties

By Kai Wasikowska. 10am-4pm TuesFri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Freehand

Works by Ann Thomson. Free. Exhibition 20 Feb-4 Apr. Opening 19 Feb at 6pm.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

China: Eighteen Days 1978

By Bill Lucas. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

Opening 26th 7pm. Exhibition from 26th Feb to 19th Mar.

Spaces and Beyond

Tom Rowney: Studio Glass

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb, 5.30pm. Runs until 15 Mar.

Craft ACT Exhibition Openings

Comedy

3 Art Exhibitions grand openings. Feb 12. 6pm. Exhibitions run from Feb 13 – 28 Mar.

Schnitz & Giggles

Guilty Pleasures

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Perception Deception Exhibition

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Paintings & works on paper. 5 Feb – 3 Mar. Free.

7pm. $10.

THE ABBEY

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

18 Feb-12 Mar. In Foyer.

Judith White: T ransit

BEAVER GALLERIES

Sharon Shannon

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

Trauma and First World Problems

Marcel Marceau “Out of silence”

Glass work. 5 Feb – 3 Mar.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Enlighten 2015

BILK GALLERY

Art Exhibitions

BEAVER GALLERIES

Live Music

Something Different

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

By Shaun Hayes. Art exhibition. 25 Feb - 15 Mar. ANCA GALLERY

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Thurs Mar 5- Sat Mar 7 Thursday Jazz

Casey Golden Trio. 7.30pm. $15/$10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Glitoris

With guests. 9pm. $10.

THE PHOENIX BAR

saturday march 7 Art Exhibitions Out West

With Pocket Fox and Marianne Scholem. 8pm. Free.

By Stephen Best. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar.

Adam and Ash

Blaze Nine

The Soorleys TRANSIT BAR

9pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

On The Town Playtime

Top 40, Dance, RnB. 10pm. Free entry.

TREEHOUSE BAR

4some Thursdays

PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Showcase of emerging Canberra Artists. Opening 6pm 20th Feb. Continues until March 28. Wed-Fri 11am-

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Unfold and Construct

New works by Phoebe Porter. 13 Feb 14 March. Opening 13 Feburary 6pm.

Free entry.

BILK GALLERY

Something Different

18 Feb-12 Mar. In Foyer.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Enlighten 2015

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Life Drawing Workshop

Every Thursday. 1pm. Price info 0414 271 311.

BELCONNEN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Trauma and First World Problems

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Taking Liberties

By Kai Wasikowska. 10am-4pm TuesFri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Freehand

Works by Ann Thomson. Free. Exhibition 20 Feb-4 Apr. Opening 19 Feb at 6pm.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

friday march 6 Film French Film Festival Opening Night

China: Eighteen Days 1978

By Bill Lucas. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

6.30pm drinks on arrival. 7pm screening and after party. $50/$55.

Marcel Marceau “Out of silence”

Live Music

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

Lakeside at 5

With The Wayne Kelly Trio. 5pm.

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb, 5.30pm. Runs until 15 Mar.

Gordie Tentrees

Bonegila Bound

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

8pm. $15/$20.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Battle of the Bands Heat #4 8pm. Free entry.

TRANSIT BAR

Opening 26th 7pm. Exhibition from 26th Feb to 19th Mar.

Spaces and Beyond

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

By Anja Loughhead. Opening 5 Mar at 6pm. Wed-Sun. 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Craft ACT Exhibition Openings

5pm afternoon session/10pm Band.

Free.

3 Art Exhibitions grand openings. Feb 12. 6pm. Exhibitions run from Feb 13 – 28 Mar.

LDRU

Guilty Pleasures

Chad Croker/Special K KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

MR WOLF

By Shaun Hayes. Art exhibition. 25 Feb - 15 Mar.

On The Town

The Bald Archie Prize 2015

Live Music

ANCA GALLERY

Tom Hathaway

Art competition. 6th Feb - 9th March.

10am-4pm. Entry $5.

TREEHOUSE BAR

As It Goes

Electronica. 9pm. Free Entry.

Something Different Enlighten 2015

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

WATSON ARTS CENTRE

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb at 6pm to 8 Mar. 11am-3pm Mon-Fri, and 11am-4pm on weekends.

NISHI GALLERY

Live Music Second Sun

With Rebecca Moore Band & Marc D. M. 8pm. $10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Mesa Cosa

With guests. 9.30pm. $5.

THE PHOENIX BAR

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Sat Mar 7 - Wed Mar 11 Oscar

On The Town

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

DJ MK

Blaze Nine

With Buick, Indighost, Faux Real and Venom. 8pm. Free.

Showcase of emerging Canberra Artists. Opening 6pm 20th Feb. Continues until March 28. Wed-Fri 11am-

TRANSIT BAR

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

8pm. Tickets TBA.

Something Different

Unfold and Construct

Sneaky: Lucrative

Enlighten 2015

New works by Phoebe Porter. 13 Feb 14 March. Opening 13 Feburary 6pm.

TREEHOUSE BAR

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

Trauma and First World Problems

10.30pm. Free.

On The Town Box Cutter: Kris Baha TRANSIT BAR

Sneaking in the city’s finest DJs. 9pm.

Free entry.

Love Saturdays $10 before 12am.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

tuesday march 10

Something Different

Karaoke

Enlighten 2015

Karaoke Love

Feb 27-Mar 8. Tickets at ticketek. com.au.

PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE

sunday march 8 Live Music Irish Jam Session

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

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Fraudband

Karaoke. 9pm. Free entry.

TRANSIT BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Taking Liberties

7.30pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

wednesday march 11

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

The Date Brothers

Out West

By Stephen Best. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar.

Craft ACT Exhibition Openings

3 Art Exhibitions grand openings. Feb 12. 6pm. Exhibitions run from Feb 13 – 28 Mar. CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Guilty Pleasures

By Shaun Hayes. Art exhibition. 25 Feb - 15 Mar. ANCA GALLERY

Freehand

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

China: Eighteen Days 1978

Trivia With Bondy & Kiers

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Live Music

Trivia

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

By Anja Loughhead. Opening 5 Mar at 6pm. Wed-Sun. 11am-5pm. Free.

By Kai Wasikowska. 10am-4pm TuesFri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar.

8pm. $5. Info at politbar.co.

Art Exhibitions

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

18 Feb-12 Mar. In Foyer.

Works by Ann Thomson. Free. Exhibition 20 Feb-4 Apr. Opening 19 Feb at 6pm.

Karaoke on Demand

With Lost Coast, Ecruteak. 3-5pm. $10.

With Hetty Kate. 7.30pm. $10.

BILK GALLERY

Bonegila Bound

DRILL HALL GALLERY

By Bill Lucas. 10am-4pm Tues-Fri. 12pm-4pm weekends. Free. 26 Feb-22 Mar. PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

Marcel Marceau “Out of silence”

Opening 26th 7pm. Exhibition from 26th Feb to 19th Mar.

Sam Buckingham

Time TBA. Tickets TBA.

Talks Speed Talking

12pm. Conversation in French with native French speakers. Free.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

Trivia Tranny Trivia

Questions with Glamour. 8pm. Free.

POLIT BAR & LOUNGE

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

Spaces and Beyond

Art exhibition. Opening 20 Feb, 5.30pm. Runs until 15 Mar. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

PHOTOACCESS MANUKA

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FIRST CONTACT SIDE A: BMA band profile

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

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

Wives Where did your band name come from? We are all mistresses of the Dark Lord.

Group members? Anja (vocals, bass, guitar), Gus (bass, synth), Jordan (guitar, bass) and Tim (drums).

Describe your sound: We get labelled with the ever popular ‘post-punk’ title, but when you’ve got a female vocalist its pretty cliché. We’re not goth enough…except for Gus. Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? ? Anja – Rowland S. Howard, Gus –The Birthday Party, Jordan – Andy Gill (Gang Of Four), Tim – Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins).

What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had whilst performing? None to date, except for that one time Anja got told she looks like Lena Dunham from GIRLS. Of what are you proudest so far? Gus: Anja rightfully stealing the CBR crown from Bobby Kill (TV Colours).

What are your plans for the future? We’re set to release our debut LP Devoted To You this May and will be touring nationally.

What makes you laugh? When we can tell that our friends don’t like our music and Peter K’s non-stop antics.

Australian Songwriters Association Keiran (02) 62310433 Back to the Eighties Ty Emerson 0418 544 014 Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422733974 backbeatdrivers.com Bat Country Communion, The Mel 0400405537 Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows-bookings@ birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438351007 blacklabelphotography.net Bridge Between, The Cam 0431550005 Capital Dub Style Reggae/dub events Rafa 0406647296 Chris Harland Blues Band, The Chris 0418 490 649 chrisharlandbluesband @gmail.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415982662 Danny V Danny 0413502428

What pisses you off? Anja: when the sound guy asks me if I need help plugging in my guitar…

Dawn Theory Nathan 0402845132 Danny 0413502428

What about the local scene would you change? Less food vans more venues

Dorothy Jane Band, The Dorothy Jane 0411065189 dorothy-jane@dorothyjane.com

What are your upcoming gigs? Thursday March 12 at Transit Bar with Carb On Carb (NZ), Agency and Hospital Pass.

Contact info: wivesofcanberra@gmail.com, cinnamonrecords.bandcamp.com, facebook.com/ wivesmusic

Drumassault Dan 0406 375 997 Feldons, The 0407 213 701 FeralBlu Danny 0413502428 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410381306 Lachlan 0400038388 Fourth Degree Vic 0408477020 Gareth Dailey DJ/Electronica Gareth 0414215885 Groovalicious Corporate/ weddings/private functions 0448995158

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

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

Top Shelf Colin 0408631514

Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com

Zoopagoo zoopagoo@gmail.com

Undersided, The Baz 0408468041

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SAMUEL TOWNSEND Historically, Canberra has never been recognised or appreciated as a city of festivals, not in the same way other capital cities have. Sydney is home to Vivid, the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and of the course, the Sydney Festival. Melbourne has become a global destination for the International Comedy Festival, as with the recently rebranded Melbourne Festival. And they also have Moomba, now in its 60th year and recognised as Australia’s largest community festival. Moomba also means ‘up your butthole’ in many Indigenous language groups. Cheers!

In 1988, Canberra birthed two major festivals that have now become synonymous with the city; Floriade and Summernats – because you can’t have one without the other. A couple of years later the National Folk Festival firmly rooted itself in the Bush Capital, for good. A collective sigh of relief was heard from those who weren’t gettingoff on the whiff of daffodils or burnouts. In recent times Canberra’s festival calendar has been subject to some much-needed growth. A major gap in the market has made way for an organic evolution – think You Are Here, Enlighten and our very own Comedy Festival. At last the culturally starved can indulge in a variety of events and happenings that are unquestionably leaving its participants satiated.

do use the guide of ‘does the art work say something?’ and if it does it’s a fair indication that it may feature in the festival.” The concept to connect city with shore is a major addition to this year’s festival. What Caffery described as “unexpected growth” will this year see the festival spill beyond the usual confines of New Acton and embrace the edge of Lake Burley Griffin and Westside via the ‘Art Walk’. This creative passage will lead people to the Acton Beach Party hosted by the Canberra Musicians Club, headlined

by Ruffino and the Coconuts, who “Play beach music infused with piña colada’s!” Caffery is adamant that festival punters bring their bathers. LBG needs to be reconsidered as an “active zone” and he wants to see people swimming in the water and dancing on the freshly laid sand. This is a “kids encouraged” area lead by Sam Lilburn and a team from Blue Gum School, with picnic areas and plenty of “open learning” activities for families. This year Andrea Belfall will facilitate sessions that encourage kids to create their own musical instruments using natural materials.

We want them to say something with their art in the hope that they connect with the audience

In 2012 ART NOT APART ostensibly emerged fully formed. An urbane and seamlessly executed festival held in the arts precinct of New Acton; a creative and thoughtful pocket existing on the fringe of the CBD. The one-day event saw markets and food stalls sitting alongside installations, performance art and live music, all momentarily taking over the gardens, foyers and other available spaces within the new development. “Art Not Apart is about fading boundaries,” reads part of the festivals mission statement. “Giving light to the lesser heard, lesser seen, makes society more open.”

Festival producer, David Caffery, admits that he “never envisaged it to be a festival.” But when Art Not Apart returned in 2013, “It had doubled in size, unexpectedly! Not just in terms of artist numbers and community turnout, but budget as well.”

In 2015, Art Not Apart embarks on an ambitious festival journey, which will see the city connect with the lake through a series of events designed to encourage the public to not only consider art in all its guises but to also view existing public spaces through a new lens. The overarching festival ‘theme’ this year is Say Something, which will be explored interactively when local artist Blaide Lallemand fills The Nishi Building Foyer with a hundred large silver inflatable letters. Lallemand will create “poetic combinations of letters and words in the vein of scrabble” while encouraging participants to communicate messages by forging their own combinations. “We’re interested in artists using their media to send a message, rather than just explore something that may be completely intangible or meaningless to people. We want them [artists] to say something with their art in the hope that they connect with the audience.” Caffery says that this is a major part of the curatorial selection process. “When selecting work we

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The program adopts an inclusive approach by showcasing work that spans disciplines, including dance-theatre (Lingua Franca Dance Theatre and Collaborators Work It), documentary film (Anne Tsoulis and Gavin Findlay’s These Heathen Dreams), installation (Dax Liniere’s Perception ≠ Reality), experimental performance (Danny Wild’s Techno Dreaming) and exhibition (Sydney’s Mils Gallery presenting Cool Combo), sprawled across three key locations. In recent months you may have been curious, along with many locals, about one location in particular. I’m talking about the yellow and blue structure (made primarily of shipping containers) that has sprung up on the north side of Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. Welcome to Westside. Caffery remarks with conviction that on Saturday March 14, Westside will be humming with “30 to 40 artists working together on mixed media collaborations in and around the shipping containers.” This will mark the first major event staged in the new construction. “There’ll be DJs playing homemade beats on a homemade 20watt sound system,” says Caffery. After dark the area will transform into a dystopian wonderland, titled F_ck Art, Let’s Party, as electronic music continues to push the limits of sound while projections, presented by the department of New Media Arts, map and illuminate the walls of the containers.

In a short period of time Art Not Apart has cemented itself as a cultural force to be reckoned with and this year’s offerings are sure to add momentum to their already inspiring trajectory. In the lead up to this years event, consider the festivals philosophy illustrated by a quote from T.S. Elliot: “He urged the ‘overlapping and sharing of interests, by participation and mutual appreciation’ so we can stay cohesive. Otherwise we’ll fall apart.”

Art Not Apart takes place on Saturday March 14 between 1–7pm.

After-party will happen between 7-11.45pm. All events are free but tickets need to be reserved online for certain performances. For full program details visit artnotapart.com

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Love it or hate it, work is something we all have to do

feelings connected with work, place and identity.”

Having worked previously with Welch at You Are Here, Plevey spoke highly of the strong arts community in Canberra and how its tight-knit environment allows artists to “collaborate and have conversations that produces really interesting work.”

working overtime

gus mccubbing

The rat race, the treadmill, hamster wheel — David Foster Wallace once described it as the “constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.” Love it or hate it, work is something we all have to do. The angst revolving around purpose and purposelessness is shared by all. The connection between our own identities and our workplace environments is shared by all. And it is these universal thoughts and feelings, albeit with a focus on the Canberra experience, that Alison Plevey has chosen to explore in her upcoming multimedia dance performance, WORK IT. Presented by Lingua Franca Dance Theatre, the artsACT funded project will feature in both the Art, Not Apart and the You Are Here festivals through March. Directed by her strong interest in other peoples’ “connection” to place and environment, as well as her own desire to take theatre into “non-traditional performance space”, Plevey’s WORK IT will use dance, interactive video and a live sound mix to “illuminate” and “represent” our workplaces. Teaming up with video artist Caitlin Welch and audio designer Yohan Iddawela Plevey assure the performance will “expose our everyday behaviours, thoughts and

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The aim of WORK IT, Plevey explains, is to manipulate new representations of work in order to portray another “undercurrent” or “spatial dynamic” behind the workplace, as well as our “relationships to our colleagues and to this ritual of work every day”. According to Iddawela, the performance “investigates the diverse discourses that underscore work.” These are discourses, he continues, which are “often silent and overlooked in everyday, mundane life.” While preparing for the project, Plevey and Welch conducted interviews with workers and recorded site-specific movement responses in different workplaces across Canberra. Some of these workplace environments, such as Parliament House and the Duntroon Military College, are iconic institutions within the bush capital.

Other workplaces Plevey and Welch engaged with, including a local café kitchen and a local hairdresser, are of course by no means environments unique to Canberra and yet may offer something distinctly Canberran in the nature one connects and identifies with such workplaces. For instance, Plevey describes Canberra as a “young and highly liveable” city, while she sees Sydney as a “scattered and disconnected” metropolis. With this in mind, WORK IT will draw upon different “visceral and sensory mediums” to explore the physical and psychological behaviours of working in Canberra, as well as how work shapes our “social, political and economic landscape.”

Catch WORK IT at Art Not Apart on Saturday March 14 at Nishi Level 8, New Acton at 3.30 –4.30pm and 5 –6pm. Booking at artnotapart.com/work-it.

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