BMA Mag 318 05 Feb 2009

THREE18 February 05.09

KICKING OFF THE BIG OH-NINE IN STYLE

ALSO INSIDE: DIED PRETTY, SNOW PATROL, FRINGE FEST LOCALS, AND MUCH MORE!

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FREE STUFF Funny stuff and free stuff.

Send your answers and love-letters to:

Loveless

Just in time for the release of Gus Van Sant’s much anticipated film Milk comes The Times of Harvey Milk, an Academy Award-winning documentary following the story of the first openly gay person elected to office in California.

The documentary tracks Milk’s life as a political campaigner, from his triumphant grass-roots campaigning to his brutal assassination by fellow San Fran supervisor Dan White. These events and the “Twinkle Defence” trial that followed united an entire city, first in mourning and then in violent rage. The story is one of communities and values in conflict, told with humour and compassion. Thanks to Shock, we have five copies of this doco - released on February 14 - to give away. To get your grassy fingers on one, tell us the name of the actor who plays Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s picture.

Based on the 1981 horror flick that Quentin Tarantino has labelled “the best slasher movie of all time”, My Bloody Valentine 3D is set to give couples an extraordinary 3D treat when released

by Hoyts Distribituion this February 12. Ten years ago, a tragedy changed the town of Harmony forever. Tom Hanniger, an inexperienced coal miner, caused an accident in the tunnels that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden, into a permanent coma. Then, on Valentine’s Day exactly one year later, Harry Warden came to and brutally murdered 22 people with a pickaxe before being killed. Ten years later, Tom Hanniger returns to Harmony on Valentine’s Day, still haunted by the deaths he caused. But tonight, after years of peace, something of Harmony’s dark past has returned. Wearing a miner’s mask and armed with a pickaxe, an unstoppable killer is on the loose. We’ve got 20 double passes to this emotional rollercoaster to disperse at our will.

To get one for you and your lovely significant other, tell us your favourite piece of slasherflick trivia.

Packed to the Nines

Heaven Up Here

From acclaimed producer John August (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) comes The Nines, a compelling and mysterious journey through the mind of an actor, a videogame designer, and a screenwriter. But what is it that links all three?

I’ve been told that it isn’t vanity, neuroticism or peanut M&Ms. Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, and Melissa McCarthy star in these three short films which fit together in different, sometimes overlapping stories to form a single partnarrative, part-commentary on the highs and lows of reality in Hollywood. Thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have two copies of this DVD to give away. To pry one from our sticky fingers, tell us your favourite nine letter word. For those who miss out, you can pick up a copy for $29.95 from your nearest quality retailer. Tally Ho!

In the same vein as movies such as Babel, Syriana and Traffic, comes the latest Hyperlink flick The Edge of Heaven.

Directed by Fatih Akin (Head On) and awarded Best Screenplay at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, The Edge of Heaven is a powerful and thought-provoking meditation on the great divide which exists between different cultures, generations and people. Featuring a powerful performance from the legendary Grand Dame of German Cinema, Hanna Schygulla, the movie follows the different lives and experiences of father, son, mother, daughter, and the gulf between Germany and Turkey, between the West and Islam, and between repentance and forgiveness. Most suckers will have to pick up this heart-wrenching DVD for $29.95, but thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have two shiny copies to throw at gracious readers. To get your fix, tell us your favourite Hyperlink film.

editorial@bmamag.com Ya gotsta be quick 'round here!

Got Milk?

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Hour of Power

Hot on the heels of a world tour, and direct from the Sydney Opera House, comes Finucane and Smith’s The Burlesque Hour.

Recommended only for those over 16 due a bit o’ raunchy nudity, this non-stop panorama of raucous, risqué and razor-sharp acts has created a frenzy from Hong Kong to London, Tokyo to, dare I say it, Toowoomba. Consisting of equal parts circus, sideshow, showgirl, striptease, music hall, gothic spectacle and general mayhem, this show has been hailed the world over as truly unforgettable. We have two red-hot double passes to give away, along with two pairs of his or hers embroidered Burlesque Hour underpants. To get your delicious thighs into them, tell us your favourite Burlesque-themed song, film, or TV show. As for the rest of you, be sure to get along to The Street Theatre from February 10 to 14.

Diamond Dogs Breaking the mould, blurring the boundaries, and generally subverting the status quo, Resin Dogs have continually set their own rules and carved a unique niche in the global scene as one of Australia’s most renowned and respected crossover hip-hop music exports. After the success of their 2007 album More comes More or Less (Hydrofunk Records/MGM). The original tracks that came out of More have been remixed by producers including Plutonic Lab, Two Fresh (Kid Kenobi and his brother Hugga Thugg), Chasm and DeNorthwood, to create an album which, like all Resin Dogs releases, is both unique and engaging. We have two copies of this slick piece of wax to give away.

To snap one up, tell us which year Resin Dogs formed. If you’re still gasping for more, you can get along to Corinbank to catch the boys live!

STRUTH BE TOLD As a kid I’d say “when I grow up I want to be a struggling artist.” When I blew out my birthday candles I’d wish for a first round grant offer from the Australia Council. To further the fantasy, instead of playing shops at school I’d insist we played Centrelink.

On dress up days, I’d pull on a bummed-out cardigan and tobacco flecked cords. I had a clear vision of myself as a grown up: in my late-20s, artistically hit and miss, still renting with a phobia of children and a string of failed relationships behind me. And now, I have reached that point. I am an actual grown up. This is it.

This is it?

My lifestyle is so far outside the blueprint of normality that I’ve had to create the sub-genres ‘concept adult’ and ‘grown-down.’ Sure, I’ve got all the things other adults have, like a Medicare card, dry-cleanable slacks and an ability to cook stir-fries, but somewhere in the crucial fields I’ve managed to fall completely between the cracks. Monday mornings are the hardest. While fleets of suited men march handsomely off to white collar windfalls, I grizzle about in bed belting the snooze button like the buzzer in a gameshow where every question is ‘what are you doing today you dreg?’

I was the first Heazlewood to go to Uni and my family held high expectations, but with a bachelor of arts in creative writing I couldn’t even walk into a hand job! *becomes Woody Allen* Unperturbed, I continued my trivial little dallies; getting gigs, receiving benefits, sabotaging casual work, getting smashed on school nights and revelling in the hilarity of it all. At first, the real world has some novelty value. It’s like diving into a freezing river - all you can do is squeal and wriggle about. Come Christmas I’d fly home to Tasmania, skirting around questions like a chain-smoking Dylan.

When the real world novelty wears off, you’re just floating alone in a bottomless dam. You reach a cross-road where your punk aesthetic meets a serious fucking lack of money. You’re trying to pay off the emotional mortgage of a long-term relationship, and provide your own artistic capital while lying on a mattress on the floor at 2am listening to flatmates play ‘Facebook Twister.’ You’re still a big-old kid in your jimmy-jams asking the gods when you’re going to really grow up and have that ‘stability.’ Car, partner, house, kitten, Jason Priestly from 90210 high-fiving you at Christmas. Anything.

I recently held an annual general meeting in my mind and made a moving speech to myself. I vowed that all these years of self-employed work experience were paying off, and that it was more important than ever to think of my bedroom as an office, and to adopt more stringent nine to five hours to my creativity. We decided that the company motto of ‘sorry’ had to go, and that we needed to hold our heads high and ignite a bonfire of pride in our hearts for the ideas farm we’d built from the ground up. The next morning I slept in, fired myself and came home drunk to find my locks changed and an ad up for my position. I reapplied, was promoted CEO and sold the company to pay back the Bank of Mum. Cue John Lennon: ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’ Instant Karma my friends. Don’t allow your life to become a religion where all will be redeemed in the ambiguous ‘future.’ Grow up! I’ve rolled my training wheels and popped my floaties. I’m living, breathing and choking it. Sure, it’s nothing like my family’s visions, but I’m a child of the future! I may not have superannuation but I’m time rich and doing what I love. If you come to my little home I will offer you tea and biscuits, because that’s what grown ups do.

JUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD www.bedroomphilosopher.com bma magazine 7

NEWS MIA Australian blues and roots darling Mia Dyson has spent the past year preparing for her unfortunate (well, for us) relocation to the USA, but that hasn’t stopped her heading into the studio with drummer Angus Diggs, bassist James Haselwood, vocalist Laura Jean and guitarist Matt Walker to record her latest single You & Me. Before she sets sail for the promised land, Dyson will grace Australian audiences with her dulcet tones once more. You can catch the sweetheart then with Jen Cloher and the Endless Sea at the Woden Southern Cross Club on Saturday March 7 at 7pm. Tickets are $25 from the venue.

Put Up Ya Dukes!

After the success of their breathtaking singles The Others, It’s A War, and Get It, Dukes of Windsor will be getting back in the van in 2009 for a national tour in support of their upcoming single Runaway.

Taken from the Dukes’ major label debut Minus, Runaway reflects a sense of escapism set amongst flowing synth textures, punchy bass lines, an insistent rhythm, and no doubt a lot of fluro. Hitting the road in March with Western Australian rockers The Dirty Secrets, the boys will drop by Transit Bar on Thursday March 26 for a free show. Get it?

My Bloody Valentino

Machine Translations Canberrans are in for a tasty treat on Saturday February 14, with Carnival in the City bringing residents a Latino music explosion as part of the National Multicultural Festival. Batucada Sound Machine, along with ARIAnominated Watussi, will treat punters to a delicious mix of Brazilian, Cuban, afro-beat rhythms, tango, nova bossa, Hispanic hip-hop, rap, salsa, and dub. Kicking off at 2pm, Carnival in the City will also see more than fifty percussionists and dancers making their way through the streets of civic, with the evening concluding at Academy with an afterparty featuring DJs Russ Dewbury, Chocolate Escobar, Man About Town, Ashley Feraude and Frank Madrid. So if you’re in the mood for a wee taste of Latin this summer, head down to Garema Place on February 14 - and bring that special someone with you, you cheeky monkey, you.

I Love Lucy Australia’s favourite middle-aged female comedian, Judith Lucy, is celebrating 20 years of stand up comedy with a brand new show. After turning 40 last year, Judith’s mind has turned to topics such as mortality, the notion of family, the meaning of life and why you never really think about any of this nonsense until you just can’t drink like you used to (thanks to three day hangovers). Judith Lucy’s Not Getting Any Younger will be Judith’s ninth solo show, and her first visit to Canberra since 2006. She’ll be reminding us all about our final fate at The Canberra Theatre on Friday March 6 at 7pm.

Tickets are $39.50 through Canberra Ticketing.

Tropic of Canberra This February will see Tropfest once again attract droves of Canberrans to Commonwealth park for a mouth-watering banquet of short films, and no doubt the chance for us all to pretend we actually know anything about cinema, brie and red wine. To meet the requirements of an ever-increasing crowd and demands for a better quality outdoor movie viewing experience, this year’s Tropfest will have a new ticketed premium seating area, innovating catering, and pre-order hampers. Tropfest 09 will commence at 2pm on Sunday February 22, with live entertainment from 4pm and the screening of this year’s finalists from 7:30pm.

bma magazine

Coming to our humble city limits this February – and more specifically, the Canberra Theatre –is David Tydd’s Valentino. Playing appropriately over the nights of February 13 and 14, Valentino is the story of the man who defined what it was to be a Hollywood star, and who introduced Latin dance to the West. The play is set in the roaring ‘20s silent movieera Hollywood, and at a time when almost anything goes. Starring Tiffani Wood, Katie Underwood, Normie Rowe and Michael Miziner, this is sure to be one for the lovers!

Oh Davey Boy… International playboy and all-round entertainer David Campbell has featured on television programs, starred in musical theatre, wooed crowds in New York in his own cabaret shows, recorded two Top 10 albums and sold out a concert tour from coast to coast. But there’s still one more notch that Campbell would like to have on that long belt of his: Canberra. The handsome young crooner will heading our way on March 21 for a performance at the Canberra Theatre, where he will undoubtedly send us all weak at the knees. And how couldn’t he? With the recent release of the much anticipated Good Lovin’, encapsulating that uptempo, positive sense of unlimited possibilities that typified the ‘60s, David Campbell’s new album “encourages us to party like it’s 1968” [Ed – BMA presumes that David Campbell’s management is not referring to the Tet Offensive and the resulting amplification of violent anti-war protests, nor the riots which proceeded the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, nor the student riots in Paris or Rome. BMA accepts no responsibility for any misinterpretation of this invitation to party].

Staring at the Sun The Sunpilots have been flying high since the launch of their debut album Living Receiver, a wee tad over six months ago. It’s picked up an ‘Indie Album of the Year’ and two ‘Indie Album of the Week’ awards, and has spawned a number one most added song to Australian radio, an iTunes Single of the Week and a top 100 most-played track. Hmm, seems Living Receiver has been getting around a bit. If you’ve indulged in a bit of Sunpilots lovin’, you better get yourself checked out. Just to be sure, you know. But not to be deterred by claims of being a lover to the whole population, the group is about to embark on their March of the Drones tour, in support of their third single Drones. The group will hit Transit Bar on April 4, so start savin’ those pennies (for beer of course, cause the show’s free).

AND ANOTHER THING...

YOU PISSED ME OFF Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well, send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance. And for the love of God, keep it brief! ALL ENTRIES CONTAIN GENUINE SPELLINGS.

The phone rings.

“Hey! It’s Joacim from Hammerfall! How are you?!”

Now, this sort of thing happens all the time in the Adams household as I’m sure you’d imagine. Giants of the Euro power metal scene are always grabbing the jellybone for a bit of a chinwag about matters musical but – and here’s the rub – IT’S FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE PISSING MORNING! Someone in a press office somewhere has fucked up badly and chirpy Joacim Cans - after all, it’s only six o’clock in the afternoon in Gothenburg, Sweden, from whence he calls, so he can afford to be chirpy - wants to shoot the shit with regard to his band’s ‘comeback album,’ the effortlessly impressive No Sacrifice, No Victory. But at four in the morning? Oh well, I am, after all, a professional, and this is what professionals do. Grabbing the bull by its viking horns, I wade into the questioning, groggily coming up with this prize pearl of interrogation as my opening gambit: “So, Joacim, it’s been 12 years since (debut long-player) Glory to the Brave saw the light of day - did you ever dare believe you’d be on the phone to Australia a decade later spruiking your seventh studio album?” (Obviously I didn’t couch the question as incisively as this. I couldn’t find my glasses and it was dark in my bedroom, so I was feeling my way a bit - I filled in the blanks later, as I type this report for you).

“Australia! I thought we’d be lucky to get even one record out, and maybe play some shows in Sweden. You have to remember, when we started, in ‘96, this kind of heavy metal was dead…”

Dearest cunt-faced neighbour, Early tomorrow morning I am going to break into your house and: a) make you shelve that plastic world tour drum kit b) cut off both your arms (so you can’t even play ‘love bites’) and c) paint a clock on your TV screen where the time will always be two minutes to youare-still-not-Neil-fucking-Peart you fuck head.

It’s after midnight on a fucking Tuesday, it’s FINALLY cool enough to sleep and, even after 13 attempts, you still haven’t got the rhythm of ‘Ramblin’ fucking Man’.

Shut the fuck up.

SHUTTHEFUCKUP! shut . the fuck . up.

This one goes out to all the fuck wits in canberra who cant drive to save their lives. you piss me off to the fullest! you’ll be driving along then decide to slow down casually and just drift into another lane or suddenly

I chime in, agreeing that even the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were experiencing their own global downturns around this time.

FROM THE BOSSMAN

“You’re right. I remember when they (Maiden) came to Gothenburg then, they struggled to sell 800 tickets. Now they’re back to football stadiums!”

So really, this is the proverbial dream come true. But what, I ask, turning the conversation on a dime, of this new record? To my ears at least - and I’ve been a fan since day 263, if not day one - this is a different sounding Hammerfall in 2009.

“Do you think so?” Cans sounds surprised, but thinks things over. “Maybe.

You know, because of what happened…”

He’s alluding here to the fact that longtime members Marcuss Rosen (bass) and Stefan Elmgren (guitars) jumped ship after last outing Threshold. “We were maybe three tired old guys left in the band, and the new guys (guitarist extraordinaire Pontus Norgren and returning former bassist Fredrik Larsson), well I shouldn’t complain - like you say this is our dream - the new guys revitalised us. Fredrik plays bass with a pick, not his fingers, so you might hear a difference there; and Pontus. Stefan was a great guitarist, but Pontus is something else again! And Anders (Johansson, drums), his drumming on this album is amazing!”

So, it really is the comeback album it’s been touted as. I remark to Joacim that I’d had to go to the Netherlands to see the band ‘back in the day’ as they were convinced there was no market there for them - they were wrong. So what are the thoughts viz-a-viz a little jaunt down under?

“It’s too dangerous! I hate spiders! There’ll probably be some dangerous spider parade being held when I step off the plane! I don’t know, we’ve talked about it a couple of times – we tour Asia this year and maybe we could come then. We’d like to!”

Here’s hoping…

SCOTT ADAMS 30yearsofrnr@hotmail.com

bma :: Issue318 www.bmamag.com "bma: you CAN polish a turd!"

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bma is independently owned and published Opinions expressed in bma are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

turn with out even indicating! who the fuck taught you how to drive? my 12 year old sister knows the road rules better than you! indicators are designed for a reason, that reason is safety, and could even possibly be your life, i hope the next time you dont indicate someone miss reads your actions and crashes into you and you die a horrible death, you dont own the fucking roads dick head! another thing that pisses me off to the fullest is the pathetic middle age men that drive up along beside you when they notice your a P plater female, and nod and smile and even try to race you, its like, seriously, are you kidding, your old and your driving a piece of shit ford laser, your really think im even going to notice you for a second? fuck. stupid, pathetic, pedo creeps, get a fucking life and learn how to drive, or if i see you doing that shit again ill crash into you myself.

Additions to the Australian Citizenship Test:

Q34: The Australia flag is… a) a representation, and celebration, of the bubbling multicultural hotpot that is the joy of human life in this country b) a cape to give you really super awesome bogan powers c) with each Cronulla-style outbreak of violence, increasingly looking like a Swastika Q77: The t-shirt “Fuck off, we’re full” is… a) farkin’ hilarious! b) the kind of thing you’d expect to buy from the Ku Klux Klan c) a handy way to quickly identify an idiot Q101: Why do you want to enter Australia? a) to support the country, get a job, drive the economy, raise a family in peace, learn the culture and share my own so we enjoy the best of each other’s worlds b) the fear I deal with in my country will be marginally less that the fear I expect to experience here c) I like the taste of bogun knuckles I think that about brings us up to date, now, doesn’t it?

ALLAN “ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR?” SKO

Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko: T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Ben Hermann T: (02) 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Fahim Shahnoor : T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com

Super Sub Editor Peter Krbavac Graphic Design Jessica Condi Film Editor Mark Russell Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo/Nick Brightman/John Hatfield Issue 319 Out February 19 Editorial Deadline February 6 bma Advertising Deadline February 12magazine

TIDBITS WHO CCAS WHAT EXHIBITION FEAST WHERE CCAS GORMAN HOUSE WHEN FRI FEB 6

WHO INAPPROPRIATE TOUGH GUY WHAT PUNK ROCK DUO WHEre THE FRONT, LYNEHAM WHEN SUN FEB 15

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Multicultural fever has hit Canberra and it seems that no one is immune! Even the Canberra Contemporary Art Space is set to cover the globe this month with exhibitions by artists born in Mexico, Poland and Tonga. In the CCAS Mainspace, Brisbane-based photographer Maurice Ortega mixes the iconic Mickey Mouse with comic book stylings to express ideas of assimilation and masculinity in massive black and white photographs. Next door in the Middlespace, Izabela Pluta from Sydney shows a series photographs that are about the meaning of homeland and being stuck between places. Meanwhile, in the Cube, ANU Art School graduate Tevita Havea presents an impressive installation that refers to Islander mythology and ancient rituals of tattooing and scarification. The three exhibitions are at CCAS Gorman House and only a short walk from the food and fun at the Multicultural Festival. The opening night with all the artists is on Friday February 6 from 6pm. It’s the first CCAS exhibition opening for 2009, so be sure come on over and check it out!

Patto and Jem, best known as the (lower) bass player and drummer from Fire Witch step out of their comfort zone and try their hand at some punk rock ditties. Well, their take on punk rock which, like most things they do, pays little attention to the norm. The musical connection these two have as duo Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour is undeniable and unrelenting, having played together since high school and amassed over 200 shows together in various parts of the globe. In the tradition of their former unit they continue to blur the line between improvisation and calculated mayhem. Staunchly independent, the boys are hitting the road yet again, in support of their long-awaited debut 12”/CD record (out via WeEmptyRooms).

They’ll stop by The Front Café, Lyneham, for an all-ages show at 3pm on Sunday February 15, with support from Sparrow Head.

WHO JOHN SELWAY WHAT LLIK LLIK LLIK GUEST DJ WHERE TRANSIT BAR WHEN FRI FEB 20

Transit Bar’s monthly night of disco, tech-house, techno, and all-round debauchery, Llik Llik Llik, has grown to become a much-favoured night out for Canberra’s sparkly young creatures. As though the night didn’t need any more glitterati shtick, February 20 will see it host one of the world’s most prolific producers, John Selway. Hailing from New York, Selway has been making records since the early ’90s, with notable achievements including his contributions to the early productions of Deep Dish and his minimal techno label CSM. From his intelligent electrofunk sensibilities, to his synth-rock ballads and improvisational eclecticism, Selway has created one of the most stylistically wide ranging bodies of work in the world of electronic dance music. And in case that gem ain’t enough to satisfy your tenacious appetite, local talents Alex McLeod, Biggie, Gabriel Gilmour and Nick Smith will also be there to razzle-dazzle your socks off. Entry is free, so you’ve got no reason to go hungry!

WHO THE MISSING LINCOLNS WHAT INDIE POP DARLINGS WHERE LANDSPEED RECORDS WHEN NOW

One of Canberra’s most-loved musical pioneers, The Missing Lincolns are less pop chameleons than they are pop cockroaches. They are indie-pop lifers who’ve faced down every fad, trend, and NME-sanctioned movement, and gotten strong. The thrill of their raw and loud live show has been an open secret amongst Canberra gig-goers for years now – the band are known to spend as much time in the crowd as onstage, hungry for attention and desperate to push the party out of bounds. Such populist aspirations are the fuel behind their new LP Righteous Noise.

The album is the band’s radio opus – a record with unfettered pop imagination, double-dipped strings, horns, banjos and soul singers. The album was recorded in Canberra, mastered by Steve Smart, and includes guest appearances from members of Julia and The Deep Sea Sirens, The Cherry Marines, Cool Weapon, The Andi & George Band, Mr. Fibby, and Quagmire. The album is a mere $20 and is available from Landpseed. So why are you still reading? Go on, get!

WHO THE BURLESQUE HOUR WHAT RAUNCHY DECADENCE WHERE STREET THEATRE WHEN FEB 10 -1 4

Hot on the heels of a rollicking world tour and direct from the Sydney Opera House, the raunchy smash hit The Burlesque Hour is stopping by Canberra this February. A non-stop salacious panorama of raucous, risqué, and razor-sharp acts have created a frenzy around the world, with London’s The Times describing it as “the sublime to the subversive, the hot to the hilarious…outrageous and unforgettable.” The show stars internationall-acclaimed queen of the cabaret Bizarre Moira Finucane, Japanese butoh dancer and shock cabaret artiste Yumi Umiumare, circus and burlesque star Azaria Universe, and a host of others. Part circus, part showgirl, part striptease, music hall and gothic mayhem, this bizarre night of entertainment will have you begging for more. There is allegedly some nudity and partial nudity, so if your kidlets are not yet old enough to get into MA+ movies by themselves, you best leave them at home. The show runs from February 10 – 14. Tickets from Tuesday-Thursday are $23/$29, and Saturday tickets are $35.

WHO THE BEDROOM PHILOSOPHER WHAT FOLK COMEDY GENIUS WHERE FRONT CAFE, LYNEHAM WHEN THURS FEB 19

Experimental folk-comedian The Bedroom Philosopher (AKA Justin Heazlewood) returns to his old haunt to usher in the arrival of new album Brown & Orange. The handsome chap will be performing his hilarious show at the Front Cafe as well as O-week, and speaking at the commencement ceremony as a former graduate of University of Canberra. The new album features Wow Wow’s Song, the film clip recently featured on the front page of YouTube, securing 20,000 views. A criminally catchy chorus, double bass and rollicking Aztec drums help create the ultimate Home-School-Hey-Jude-Bolivian-Mod-Sesame-Street-Party feel. It’s the second single from The Bedroom Philosopher’s new album Brown & Orange (released Feb 7 through MGM) which is being touted as a musically rich, hilariously unhinged and blazingly original journey into the haphazard ego of this faithfully eccentric folkstar. Catch the man in action on February 19 at the Front Café, Lyneham. 8:30pm kick off, and entry is a measly $10.

bma magazine 11

Northern Exposure

“Some bands try to create this image that they are super-human instead of tapping into the emotions that make them the same as everyone else. For me, if someone else understands how I feel and vice versa, it’s a nice validation.”

Lucy Battersby I had actually completely and honestly totally forgotten that the harbingers of disco-rock, THE MUSIC, existed. No one on the radio, in the print media or even just randomly on the street had mentioned the Leeds-based band over the last three years. It was only through faint recurring memories of lead-singer Robert Harvey’s awesome dance moves, or occasionally spotting their debut EP on CD shelves, that The Music stayed in my mind. And then, to my great surprise, it turns out they are touring the country in a few weeks and working on a new album.

Apparently Japanese crowds go completely nuts for the Music compared to crowds in Australia. Nutter says the reception they get there is amazing and Japanese fans give them little gifts during the show like chocolates, chop-sticks and even kimonos. He usually passes all the presents onto his girlfriend when he gets home.

Didn’t they break up? Didn’t they admit to addictions and depression and disappear from public view? As it turns out, I was not far from wrong - the band did take a year off after releasing their second album Welcome to the North.

Back in 2004, Harvey told journalists that passing on a feeling was the most important reward.

“We just got bored of it and couldn’t be arsed anymore,” guitarist Adam Nutter explains over the phone.

But after a year off, The Music - Nutter, Harvey, bassist Stuart Coleman and drummer Phil Jordan - decided to give it all another go.

Nutter is dutifully conducting a pre-tour interview ahead of their Big-O festival show with Scotland’s The Fratellis, Ben Lee and others at O-Week concerts, and reminds me they did play at Splendour in the Grass last year.

It is 9am and freezing where he is, and 8pm and balmy where I am, so neither of us want to stay on the phone too long.

I ask why their Myspace page says they are sick of listening to modern music.

“It is all very cheesy pop rubbish, it’s not real fucking music. I don’t pay any attention to it because I don’t really class it as real music,” Nutter says.

“Robbie Williams and stuff are just entertainment, and then you have real bands and real musicians who make real music. Like us.”

That is a bold claim, but these are the guys who once said their music was more important than that of Oasis.

Nutter insists there are no contemporary bands writing songs which actually mean something. The last music he heard and enjoyed was Sigur Ros’ Takk. The boys in The Music now listen to older musicians like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Carol King and Joni Mitchell. “(That) is real music, not just written for the sole purpose of getting on the radio and making a little bit of money. Nowadays, you can pick up a guitar and play it really badly wearing a leather jacket and everyone thinks your cool,” he says.

Nutter and his friends may also find their fan base has reduced since they were last in Australia. He admits they have probably lost a few fans because they took a year off and have not done much promotion in Australia recently. bma magazine 12

The Music have been together for ten years now - though all are still in their early 20s - and have always felt strongly about producing music for the sake of expression rather than commercial gain.

“We’re not making music for the charts, it’s for people who genuinely enjoy it,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“Some bands try to create this image that they are super-human instead of tapping into the emotions that make them the same as everyone else. For me, if someone else understands how I feel and vice versa, it’s a nice validation.”

Back in the present, I ask Nutter if Robert Harvey is feeling better after reportedly getting treatment for depression and alcohol addiction over the past few years. Nutter says everyone in the band went through the same problems, but Harvey told the press so people would understand his lyrics.

“We all have those problems, the difference is that we don’t all publish them like Rob is. We’ve all got addictions and pyschological issues, I think that is a major part of being a human being.”

Then, Nutter went on a bit of a rant about why having an easy life leads to boring music.

“Frustrations and anger and negative emotions are probably the best things to make music out of,” he says. “Positive emotions usually make crap music that means nothing. See, that’s the problem with music. You need to have suffering to make music...”

At that crucial moment, the delicate link between his phone in the UK and my mobile in Autralia gets cut off. I feel robbed. God knows what else he was going to say. Given The Music are in a Wrestler-esque fight to prove their ability to Australian crowds, and are at their best when performing live, and the ANU is such a small venue, this should be a corker of a show.

The Music play at The Big O on Tuesday March 3 at the ANU Bar, alongside The Fratellis, Ben Lee, Bluejuice, Yves Klein Blue and Cassette Kids. Tickets from www.qjump.com.au, www.ticketek.com.au or 132 849 and Landspeed Records. More information at www.thebigotour.com .

bma magazine 13

ALL AGES

I have a fear. I have been told it’s an extremely irrational fear. I am scared of feet. I don’t know where it came from; maybe I was mugged by a giant, knifewielding foot as a small child,

or my parents used to beat me with their feet when I was naughty, but ever since I was a kid I have been repulsed by the sight of feet. So next time you’re leaving the house and have to decide between your thongs and joggers, I implore you to think of us podophobes and resist slipping on your thongs.

Anyway, here are the bands who will be hitting up Canberra in the near future for us underaged rejects: Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour are a Melbourne two-piece best known as one

of the bassists and drummer of Firewitch. ITGB will be hitting the road in support of their debut album. Stepping out of their comfort zone, these guys deliver their raw yet powerful brand of drum and bass-fuelled punk rock, blurring the lines between intentional and improvised commotion. These guys will leave you confused and amazed - such is the wonder that is Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour. They will be taking the stage at The Front, Lyneham on Sunday February 15 at 3pm alongside Sparrow Head.

Canadian self-proclaimed progressive thrash band, Propagandhi - bloody oath that’s hard to spell - will be gracing our shitty little town to entertain and enlighten us in their continuing crusade for human and animal rights. Since forming in 1986, Propagandhi have created themselves a tidy little fan base and have toured the globe extensively. With a great sense of humour, their music is both enlightening and provocative and the band have an active stance against human rights violations, sexism, racism, homophobia and animal cruelty - all messages conveyed through their lyrics. With a unique brand of fast, catchy punk, the group have transformed effortlessly from giggle-worthy to blunt and insightful. So if you think you’re up for it, get yourself to the Weston Creek Youth Centre on Friday February 20.

Wish for Wings are a keen little metal-core band hailing from Brisbane. Boasting an explosively energetic live show, Wish for Wings have become one of Australia’s most reputable hardcore bands yet. The boys will be hitting the road for their After Life Tour in support of their debut album, The After Life. Their music features thick and heavy guitar riffs, a furious rhythm and an energetic vocal onslaught.

Stepping things up once more for their tour, Wish for Wings will be playing hard and fast, just as in the past, where they exposed crowds to their savage blend of metal and hardcore tomfoolery.

Wish for Wings will be moshing into the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Saturday February 21 at 6.30pm.

Queensland’s awe-inspiring Adelle are putting on a show for us youngsters at the Woden Youth Centre on February 13.

Featuring deep flowing grooves, hard hitting drums and powerful riffs, these guys will have you in a trance for the word go. Joining them will be local boy’s Pleased to Jive You with their unique style and energetic blend of jazz, funk, and rock, these guys are one to watch. Also joining them will be AstroChem, and Yoko Oh No! That’s all from me kids. Catch ya.

LIZ ROWLEY elizabeth_rowley@live.com.au

bma magazine 14

LOCALITY Did you all remember Valentine’s Day is coming up? Before you retort with a tirade of abuse for the Hallmark Holiday, spare a thought for what our brothers and sisters in South Korea have got in store. On Valentine’s Day over there, women typically give men chocolates. One month on (March 14th) is known as White Day - a response to Valentine’s Day on which men then give women “white” gifts (like marshmallows or, er, lingerie). If that’s not enough, they’ve eked out another marketing event - April 14th is Black Day - where those that didn’t receive anything on either day can get together and “mourn” by eating noodles with black bean sauce. A card and some roses one day out of the year seems understated now, doesn’t it?

Only sporadically known for hosting live and local music, Hippo now has a dedicated night to both. Christened Dommus Adultus (translating to Home Grown for those that skipped Latin), every Thursday night from 8pm will see several local acts compete for your attentions and affections. This Thursday (February 5) will include Sally Holiday, The Big Score, DJ and the Karizmakatz and Glenroi Heights. $7 will get you up the stairs, or a neat $5 if you are a Canberra Musician’s Club member (for more info on that, head to www.canberramusiciansclub.org.au).

The Chuffs are playing their final show for the foreseeable future at The Pot Belly on Saturday February 7 before their drummer (the brilliantly named J Sweat), moves to Melbourne. They wish to thank all who’ve supported them and the Canberra bands who’ve inspired them to rock. Sad news indeed for the Canberra scene, but I find it hard to believe these rock lifers won’t have something new in the works very soon. Stay tuned!

A very quick reminder after last column – Mr Fibby will be performing their new musical treat Little Girl Lost In The Devil’s Black Beard February 7, 8 and 9 at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre ($15/$12 concession through Canberra Ticketing). If you only see one prog-gypsy song suite this fortnight, make it this one.

Reborn from the ashes of several Canberran bands, Hoodlum Shouts are quickly making a name for themselves. Their brooding post-punk tuneage has already been picked up by FBI radio in Sydney – take yer date and see what the fuss is about Saturday February 14 at The Phoenix. Support will be provided by instrumental Novacastrians Athol.

There is a stupid amount of music happening all over, above, around and alongside the Fringe Festival. Really, it is ridonkulous.

There was a massive program in last fortnight’s BMA, so I’d suggest you retrieve the issue from the bottom of your birdcage and wipe it down. Forget trying to pick highlights, just head out and see where your eyes and ears take you; from burlesque to bellylaughs, there is a little piece of magic happening every night in Civic Square.

Three – count ‘em, three – local acts will also be having their album launches. Opening night (Friday February 6) sees Omar Musa unveil his opus, Fire On The Hill will be burning down the house with their latest offering on Monday February 9, and Simone Penkethman will be soothing what ails you with her newie on Wednesday February 11. Phew! To top it all off, Simone will be performing before Locality fave, Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist. I’ll see you down the front.

Until next time, it’s been real.

LUKE MCGRATH lukemcgrath@hotmail.com

bma magazine 15

DANCE: THE DROP With the holiday season all but a segmented flashback in a Summer Lovin’style musical montage, this time of year heralds the term where we take our usual break from the heat of the summer festival season and direct our battered wallets towards the sudoriferous wombs of our local dance halls.

In a big step away from their usual musical stylings, Academy are hosting UK drum ‘n’ bass legends Roni Size & Dynamite MC on Friday February 20. Supported by Canberra DNB favourites Escha and Kilojulz, this night is set to reduce the old cinema building to a quivering mass of debris as drum ‘n’ bass will be heard through the colossal sound system for the first time ever, innit! This is definitely something for all fans of DNB to come and support if they want to see more of their fave acts through the biggest sound system in our fair city.

Mercury Bar as hosting the Big Lu Ruff Craft Mixtape tour on Friday February 13. Management have advised me that you will not be allowed in while wielding a machete or wearing a blood-stained hockey mask.

Supports include DJ Dphy, Nikkita, Convict and the Rhyme Ministers.

Proliferous party planners Pang have another round of tasty headliners appearing at their newly established free Thursday night sessions at Transit Bar. February 12 sees The Proxy and Thomas Von Party hit the stage, followed by UK superstar King Unique on February 19. Local support is provided by The Aston Shuffle, Scottie Fisher, Fourthstate, Hubert and Tim Galvin.

The newly refurbished Monkey Bar gives you somewhere to dance off your international indigestion with an Official Multicultural Festival Afterparty on Saturday February 14 with live latino band Mi Tierra performing. In the following weeks, MDX (AKA Mark Dynamix) returns on February 21 and former Australian #1 DJ Ajax makes his Monkey Bar debut on February 28.

In breaking news, the lads from Friction and Lexington have advised me that the much anticipated O in the Park music festival has been cancelled.

The huge outdoor fiesta included acts such as Sneaky Sound System, The Herd, Van She, KRAM (of Spiderbait fame), TV Rock, Hermitude and Art vs Science. The promoters have assured me that most of the acts will be appearing in separate shows later in the year so that punters won’t miss out on this glittering selection appearing in Canberra.

Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to local superstars The Aston Shuffle. Mikah Freeman and Vance Musgrove have spent the last 12 months spreading THE ASTON their wobbly love around the SHUFFLE globe with massive European and Australian tours, and the duo have brought back a lot more than just an array of exotic diseases and paternity suits. They, along with The Stafford Brothers and Basskleph, have just mixed a disc for the latest Ministry of Sound Clubbers’ Guide compilation. This is a massive step forward for the - as their bio states - former mad scientist slash male prostitute and truck driving ex-action hero. For more details, just type this into your futuristic internet machine - www.myspace.com/theastonshuffle .

Until next issue I’ll leave you with a sexy tip: to celebrate your passionate love for dance music, why not provide a bunch of flowers, chocolates and saucy poetry to your local DJ on Valentine’s Day. Personally, I prefer roses, Ferrero Rocher and the romantic musings of William Wordsworth.

Thanks in advance, you really shouldn’t have.

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

bma magazine 16

THA REALNESS Over the holiday season there was a slew of quality local product released that might have slipped under your radar, so let’s get to it.

Welcome to 2009, and the fantastic news that triple j Hottest 100 voters have acknowledged the rising quality of local hip-hop with some key places in the station’s recent yearly countdown.

Both Pez and Drapht received top ten placings and artists like Bliss N Eso and Muph & Plutonic both received multiple spots.

Congratulations to all are most definitely in order!

Locally renowned (and now half locally relocated) duo Dazed + Flawless have just released their debut self-titled EP. Featuring seven varied and engaging tunes plus instrumentals, the EP is a great introduction to D+F and bodes well for their forthcoming full-length this year. Check them out at www.myspace/ dazedflawless to hit the boys up for a copy. Well worth it!

MC Litigate and Vince Vegas AKA Alexx The Kidd have just released their new single Icypole through Amphead and it’s a banger. Out of Melbourne, the fellas mix hip-hop, electro-pop, grime and soul in with their own individual styles.

New, fresh and original - I’m keen to hear some new sounds from these guys soon.

Obese Records have unveiled the new EP from latest signing, Sydney’s Skryptcha, whose debut EP Left To Write is produced entirely by the mighty Chasm!

The 22-year-old shows a lot of skill, promise and soul over this vibrant little release and is blessed by the

depth and variation of Chasm’s beats. Another solid notch in Obese Records’ legendary belt.

Pang Productions have recently released the colourful and innovative new compilation Children of Captivity from emcee/ producer J.Waters. Featuring a ‘who’s who’ of the Melbourne underground over an abundance of varied and synergistic collaborations, the LP is a heavy but truly inspired and rewarding listen.

Down to Hobart now and hiphop/electro producer Crytearia, who has just dropped his debut production album Landscrape.

Merging samples, infectious melodies, shimmering synths, organic recordings and hardhitting drums, Crytearia exhibits a passion for the sound of old audio equipment and an ability to interpret his unique world through atmospheric beats. A blunted, genre-bending and engaging ambitious effort.

Live performance-wise, the summer heat is bringing the talent to Canberra, so mark these fine events in your diary please: for those who like their beats a little more in the Madlib/Dilla vein, the legendary Koushik (US, Stones Throw Records) will hit Transit Bar for a live/DJ set on Wednesday February 11. Don’t miss it!

Funkoars will obliterate the Transit Bar for the Canberra leg of their Hangover Tour on Thursday February 26 with Ciecmate + Newsense, Wax Lyrical and Buick in support. Get in early - this will be big!

Melbourne’s Phrase will be in town on Saturday March 7 at the Transit Bar and Muph & Plutonic return in April. Stay tuned. In massive news, the gigantic triple header of Downsyde, Drapht and Pez will hit the ANU on Thursday March 19.

And finally, for those who like their sounds a little more dubbed/ ragga’d out, check out Dubwize & The Versonaires who invade the Transit Bar for the first Capital Dub Styles of 2009 on Friday March 6 – big sound and big vibes.

To hear music from all the above and more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM, Tuesday nights from 9.30pm.

ROSHAMBO

bma magazine 18

bma magazine 19

PUNKSKA

another year in Naughty-Nine is the Beema Ska and Punk News.

While I hate all that patriotic bollocks, today – deadline - is Australia Day, so it felt appropriate.

(Cue: Australian National Anthem…)

As we’re talking Melbourne, a new band, Ire, has formed from exmembers of Mindsnare, Hitlist, Within Blood, Bloodduster, Ultimatum, Meatlocker and Samsara. If your ‘cup of tea’ is hardcore, check out www. myspace.com/hardcoreire for some sample songs.

Right, now that you’re up on your feet, here’s Big Nine! Back for

While researching for this first column, I found StZA Crack’s

(Choking Victim/Leftover Crack/Star Fucking Hipsters) favourite things list for 2008.

Included in his list were watching the Dead Milkmen at the Fun Fun Fun fest in Texas; getting shot at while hitch-hiking in Mexico; watching Bouncing Souls on Halloween at a fest in Florida; touring and recording with Star Fucking Hipsters; Leftover Crack performing with Citizen Fish; and getting arrested for throwing donuts at cops in NYC - of which he said in a statement to Punknews.org, “If I had to do it

again, I would huck another dozen donuts at the police and I would probably hit one of ‘em this time.

If you think it’s ‘punk’ to defend the police, just consider the fact that they ‘huck’ bullets at innocent people every day.”

This year NOFX turns 25 (!), and to commemorate they’re playing some special shows where former members from the four eras of the band will turn up to play a few songs from their time with the trenches. These include the original three-piece era (1983 – ‘85), Fat Mike, Smelly and Melvin; the Casillas era (1985 – ‘88), which saw Dave Casillas join, later to be replaced by Steve Kidwilder (1988 – ‘91) and finally, El Hefe (1991 – present) joined on guitar and trumpet.

Early last year, Rancid got us all excited about a new album… their seventh! But it seems the band is still on an extended hiatus and we’re left waiting.

To pass the time, a good book might be in order. In 2007, Sir Horace Panter (bass for The Specials) released an autobiography entitled Ska’d For Life - A Personal Journey With The Specials. Not to be outdone, Neville Staple will release his autobiography in April, Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials - A Life in Crime and Music. Both biographies can be found on Amazon.

And last by certainly not least, don't forget to head down to the Weston Creek Community Centre on February 20 to see Propagandhi, with supports Bloody Humans, Outcome Unknown and Jandermarra Wall.

Oi Oi, that’s yer lot!

SIMON HOBBS Next deadline is February 23.

Send news, views, gig promos and abuse to rudebwaay@gmail.com CANCELLATION APOLOGIES: Tuggeranong Youth Centre would like to sincerely apologise for the late cancellation of The Red Shore gig on Sunday 1st February, due to scheduling conflicts. We are in negotiations for The Red Shore to return hopefully in February.

The Deez Nutz gig to be held on Sunday the 22nd of February at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre will also be cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.

bma magazine 20

urd er Me at i sM Ben Hermann A dear friend of mine and fellow BMA contributor recently advised me in a rather melancholy and downcast tone to never interview my heroes.

I wouldn’t consider Chris Hannah, founding member of Canadian punk legends PROPAGANDHI a hero (as I don’t really have any), but he is a musician who I respect and admire many folds more than any other. From their 1993 debut How To Clean Everything, to Less Talk, More Rock, Today’s Empires Tomorrow Ashes, and 2005’s Potemkin City Limits, Propagandhi have provided fans not only with great punk-rock music, but also a level of lyrical insight, commentary and humour far more refreshing and engaging than the vague metaphors and ambiguous symbolism provided by other ‘political’ music groups.

On the even of the group’s first tour to Australia in 11 years, Hannah admits that after 22 years of advocating against sexism, diets based on cruelty to animals, racism, homophobia, capitalism and religion, the only area in which the group’s motivation has waned is in the obligation to sell themselves. “To get out and do the things like tour and engage in massive pres-related things, that motivation has waned.” Hannah then goes on to describe how despite what some consider an increasing politicisation of youth and the music industry since the turn of the millennium, the group has ironically felt more marginalised by this politicisation. “Around the time of the whole ‘punkvoter’ campaign in 2004, we felt very marginalised” Hannah admits. “Bands were encouraging kids to get out and be political and vote against Bush, but at the same time these bands are playing the Warped Tour in support of shoe companies who make a majority of their shoes in sweatshops overseas. This type of activism didn’t resonate with us and we felt like we didn’t belong.”

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN W/ POD PEOPLE, 4 DEAD, AND AGONHYMN

“If you question people’s dietary habits, they get very upset about it."

The groups' new album to be released in March, Supporting Caste is described by Hannah as a mixture of their past three albums, “but still a little different, as we have a second guitar player.” Supporting Caste will no doubt contain the same biting satire and outspoken political commentary as their previous albums, and once again advocate vegetarian and vegan lifestyles – an aspect of their lyrics which receives the most negative feedback.“If you question people’s dietary habits, they get very upset about it. It’s the same as if you question people’s religion and patriotism. If you question people consuming animals, people get very defensive. Part of what we are interested in as a group and individuals is meaning, and the repercussions that your meaning can have for the rest of society. I think it’s important for us to question assumptions, rather than just accept them as given.”

Growing up in a patriotic, military Canadian family, Hannah himself was first politicised by the lyrics of a punk band. Although he believes that his parents’ values and his are now more closely aligned than they have been for a long time, he points out that discovering a different value system as a youth was incredibly eye-opening. “When I discovered Millions of Dead Cops when I was 14, I read their lyrics and then held up their version of the world to the one I was brought up to believe in. Theirs resonated with myself and reality much more than the version I’d previously believed in and had been brought up to believe.” In a world heading for environmental disaster, and a country parts of which are slipping into a culture of ultra-patriotism more than ever, the time for a Propagandhi tour may never be more appropriate.

Propagandhi play an all ages show at the Weston Creek Community Centre on Friday February 20. Support will come in the form of Bloody Humans, Outcome Unknown and Jandemarra Wall. Tickets from Landspeed and bluemurder.com.au

bma magazine 21

A Beacon of Hope Ben Hermann “’Oh, we’re at another gas station. There’s another Taco Bell. There’s another hot dog stand.’” As Stu Ross, guitarist for US metalcore/ mathcore group MISERGY SIGNALS relates to me the monotony of 10 week tours in his home country, I realise that while Australians, and Canberrans in particular, will often bemoan the mere trickle of tours we receive in comparison to our Sydney/European counterparts, the quality of performance and energy we receive is regularly heightened by our own cravings for live music. “Outside of America, people are so much more appreciative of music, because they aren’t spoiled like people in the US” Stu says. “Here, you can go to a show every night, and there’s always 100 bands on tour. Kids’ tastes in the US change every month and sometimes you don’t really know where you stand.”

Last in the country for the 2007 Boys of Summer tour, the group will return to Canberra this February in support of their third full length album Controller. Produced by former member of Strapping Young Ladturned full-time producer Devin Townsend, Stu says that the album has proven much more satisfying that their previous LPs, 2004’s Of Malice and the Magnum Heart and 2006’s Mirrors. “I’m completely happy with it, which feels strange to say”, Stu admits. “I think one thing we did which we’d never done before which made it good, was the pre-production.

We did about two weeks, where we just sat down with Devon and hammered out the songs. When you’re writing for four months, your head is spinning, so we needed someone to listen to it and tell us what is good and not.”

"Oh, we’re at another gas station.

There’s another Taco Bell. There’s another hot dog stand."

Townsend also produced the group’s debut Of Malice and the Magnum Heart, however for their follow up, Mirrors, they enlisted Ben Schigel.

Ultimately, it turns out that Townsend, who then was only a parttime producer, was unavailable. However, Stu admits that the group deliberately moved away from Townsend in fear of being too influenced by his style. “We were afraid we were going to become a ‘Devon Townsend’ band, who would just take up his sound and adopt his style.” Somewhat dismayed by the results of Mirrors, which Stu admits the group weren’t too excited about playing live last time they were Down Under, the group honed the ambient element of their music; a somewhat Sigur Ros tinge which has distinguished them from other metalcore/mathcore groups, and in the process gaining the confidence to return to Devon for their third release.

“Dev doesn’t do a lot of that stuff [ambience] with other groups, so we feel it’s something that we brought in ourselves. I think we’ve developed a sound together, rather than us just adopting his sound. I think of it as a combined sound, which is why we’re not so worried about it anymore.”

The group’s show at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre will, unsurprisingly, be an all ages event. With a majority of their fan base being over 18, Stu nevertheless suggests that all ages shows injects an extra level of energy, beyond the populations' normal thirst for live music. “Older people, typically, don’t give off the same energy as younger people do, so sometimes it’s hard to play a string of no-minor shows.” Let’s hope the young ‘uns do us proud.

Misery Signals play an all ages show at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Thursday February 12. In support will be The Amity Affliction and Confession. bma magazine 22

Dirty Pretty Things

Justin Hook You may have seen him late afternoon on a side stage at the travelling heatstroke carnival that is the Big Day Out, shimmying and shaking, or maybe prancing and pouting in glorious white at one of the smaller stages at Homebake a few months ago. Either way, Ron Peno, lead singer of DIED PRETTY was clearly having a ball. And deservedly so. January capped off an incredible 12 months for the recently reformed inner-city indie stalwarts. In addition to playing two of the more notable festivals on the local circuit, Died Pretty collected a Hall of Fame nod from The Age and started the ball rolling with a Don’t Look Back tour of their beloved 1992 album Doughboy Hollow.

Looking back, appropriately enough, Peno is wistful about the concerts and album itself. “We didn’t except much out of that and had no desire to reform again, basically. It wasn’t an appealing idea to Brett (Myers, guitarist and co-songwriter), but he was approached to do the Don’t Look Back series of shows and it sounded like quite a good idea. What appealed to me was the concept of doing an album from start to finish and Doughboy Hollow is quite a well liked album - the memories I had of writing and recording were all very happy memories, positive and nice. It wasn’t anything nightmarish.”

Despite the 16 years apart, it all fell together quite easily. “We booked for some rehearsals but we cancelled a few because we didn’t think we needed to do any more!” Confident buggers. Of my suggestion that promoters in Europe get on the phone and entice them back to a part of the world that occasionally treated the band better than their homeland, Peno is sceptical, but ultimately hopeful when pushed. “It was good to relive. But not for too long. Nothing worse than bands reforming every five minutes - it’s really boring!” Take note, Beasts of Bourbon.

According to Peno, the admiration was mutual “I was told she was grooving to us at the side of the stage, so I thought I’d return the favour.”

And critics of Cilmi’s show-cancelling history and rather ‘honest’ award show antics be dammed, she has a fan in the leader of a cult ‘80s indie vintage act. “Ah gawd, more power to her. She’s had a number one hit. I’d love to have a number one song!” Mind you, that’s as far as the love spread.

“As soon as the crowd heard that song – they left,” Peno confirms.

On a similar note, Died Pretty are themselves well versed in the major record company machine. In the giddy early days of Alternative Nation they were offered a Sony deal and, to the surprise and chagrin of many, took it. But Peno remains justifiably unrepentant. “There came a point where we thought we may not get this chance again, so why not just give it a shot. If we fail - fine. If we don’t - even better! We knew what we were doing amongst the cries of ‘sell out’ and ‘you’ve gone commercial.’ Well, no. Not really.” And even though the buzz died rather too rapidly after the first blood of that deal was released (Trace), the era was free of nefarious pony-tailed-record executive meddling. “We had a really great time, they were really good. They couldn’t do enough for us. We were the ones who were demanding not to appear on certain TV shows and saying ‘We won’t play there.’ We were the ones being a bit devilish.”

Which brings us to the current day. Aztec Music have just released a remastered and expanded package of their stunning, moody and unarguable classic debut Free Dirt. “It’s great that someone has the goodness and brains to re-release it,” Peno offers, somewhat humbly. Indeed, there was voluble consternation in some quarters that Free Dirt was overlooked for the Don’t Look Back concerts last. A moot point for sure, but emblematic of the tenderness that many treat that record with - and there’s no doubt the re-release is an essential addition to complete any indie/OZ/garage/VU-inspired/paisley underground/ whatever collection. Such were genres Died Pretty messed with.

But not for “It was good to relive. se than bands too long. Nothing wor inutes - it’s reforming every five m really boring!”

The Don’t Look Back shows were more than just a chance to blow the cobwebs out for one last valedictory romp around the country in front of crusty old fans yearning for a blast from the good old days. So successfully were they that the organisers of Homebake came knocking at their door for a slot in December. Then not long after, they got another call from the Big Day Out people. “Wonderful!” exclaims Peno, sounding genuinely surprised with the upsurge in attention and festival requests they have been fielding.

But this isn’t some tragic long-lost-band-getting-their-due type thing.

Died Pretty played at the very first all-Sydney affair BDO in the early ‘90s, just as Doughboy Hollow was saturating airwaves and Discmans the nation over. “Yeah… it’s pretty amazing. We were riding a bit of a peak; we were one of the ‘bigger’ indie bands at the time. It worked well for us… and to be on a bill with Nirvana on it!”

Nirvana notwithstanding, they have encountered some unusual scheduling over the years, such as being sandwiched between End of Fashion and Gabriella Cilmi at Homebake last December “It was weird. But I really enjoyed her. I watched her whole performance and I thought she was great.”

And Peno continues to mess around. “I’ve got other irons in the fire other than Died Pretty. We’re never going to write any more Died Pretty songs, but we’ve written other songs for other projects.” Peno’s referring specifically to Noise and Other Voices, an electronic influenced project formed with Myers a few years back that retouched a bunch of unrecorded Died Pretty tracks, and his other more country-esque partnership with Kim Salmon, Darling Downs, on hiatus for the time being whilst Salmon grapples with a Surrealists record. And if that wasn’t enough, Myers has already notified Peno of a batch of songs floating around in the baroque pop vein à la John Cale circa Paris 1919. “Organic, lots of strings, piano, acoustic guitars. I’m really looking forward to that.” As we all are.

At a time when many are reminiscing about Died Pretty, Peno and Myers have effectively called stumps on the band. Yet they remain individually restless and creatively unstoppable.

The re-released Free Dirt is available through Aztec Music now.

bma magazine 23

Mr. Plow

"We weren't afraid to be more experimental and make an album with our heart and our heads."

Nick Milligan While SNOW PATROL’s ability to write stirring ballads was no secret to the indie underground, it wasn’t until the Irish five-piece penned a tune called Chasing Cars that the world took notice. Three-and-a-half million album sales later, Snow Patrol were faced with writing a follow-up record.

Guitarist Nathan Connolly explains too that this challenge simply made them more ambitious.

The band have landed in Australia for a one-off show in Sydney. The reason for this whirlwind trip? Their fifth studio album, A Hundred Million Suns, which consolidates their spacious, yet tightly-coiled melodic rock. Their genial singer, Gary Lightbody, has said in an interview that Snow Patrol actually enjoyed the recording process for the very first time. Their guitarist, Nathan Connolly, confirms this.

“We were more confident, perhaps,” says Connolly. “That was a big factor. It’s not that we didn’t like the studio, but I think we felt a bit comfortable. Now we’re more aware of what it entails and we’re much better musicians.”

How might their third album, Final Straw, have sounded with their modern recording knowledge? “There’s always things you want to improve. There’s a few songs [on Final Straw] that perhaps shouldn’t have made the record, but it was five years ago. A lot has happened since then – it was the best that we could make at that time. We haven’t made the same record again,” says Connolly.

Despite the gargantuan success of their fourth record Eyes Open, the aforementioned three point five mill seller, Snow Patrol were never tempted to write a carbon copy of their breakthrough single Chasing Cars. “We’ve never been poked or prodded by a record label, or tilted toward a certain genre or style. We weren’t afraid to be more experimental and make an album with our heart and our heads,” says Connolly.

Their latest record, A Hundred Millions Suns, ends with an epic 16-minute track called The Lightning Strike, that contains three phases (What If This Storm Ends?, Sunlight Through The Flags, and Daybreak). It’s the hallmark of a band with ambition, but also a lack of thought for translating their studio work to a live setting. “Playing the songs live was probably the last thing we thought about,” chuckles Connolly. “Recording is fun because you have an idea of where you want the record to go, but it might not end up that way.

We certainly didn’t want to repeat ourselves, and we wanted to evolve and progress. There’s no master plan. The Lightning Strike will be a tricky one to perform, but even on the last album we wouldn’t have been that ambitious.”

Connolly joined Snow Patrol in 2002, and is credited for having a big impact on the sound of their 2003 record Final Straw. “It’s really difficult to say what sort of influence I had. I think I come from the same place as Johnny [Quinn, drummer] and Gary – we feel that melody is the most important thing,” says Connolly.

Along with album sales, Snow Patrol’s live audiences have also increased exponentially. What goes through a famous rock guitarist’s head when he’s playing to ten thousand people? “You concentrate on the music, but that makes it sound like work,” says Connolly.“Honestly, it’s taken us a long time to feel comfortable [on stage], whether it’s in front of ten people or ten thousand people. I don’t know if we’re desperately seeking someone’s approval, but performing is something that we always want to be better at. You can’t take it for granted, but you also can’t lose sight of how much fun it is.”

bma magazine 24

Snow Patrol are touring as part of the 2009 V Festival, playing alongside The Killers, The Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow, Razorlight, and many more. V Festival takes in Sydney’s Centennial Parklands on March 28. For more info and tickets, head to www.vfestival.com.au . A Hundred Million Suns is out now through Universal.

LOCAL TALENT: MAKING A SPLASH AT THIS YEAR'S FRINGE FESTIVAL Among the bounty of quality entertainment being dished up by this year's Fringe Festival are some of Canberra's hottest young musical acts. We decided it would be plain selfish of us to try to keep these delicious folk all to ourselves, so below is a quick preview of what you can expect. The Fringe Festival runs in Civic Square from February 6 - 14. Get amongst it!

After leading her band Simone and the Soothsayers for 10 years and releasing three CDs with them, Simone Penkethman has made a solo record. Fall has an intimate, stripped back sound and is an independent release.

Simone Penkethman is a songwriter, theatre maker, singer and formidable guitarist. Her songs are little worlds of story that intimately portray larger-than-life characters. Some are whimsical ditties, some rich tapestries of image and others direct as punk.

Simone has been involved in Canberra ’s indie scene for over twenty years, playing solo and with bands, booking the legendary Gypsy Bar, directing and performing in fringe theatre and cross arts collaborations. She has a degree in Creative Arts and has taught many of Canberra’s young actors and musicians.

All Simone’s CD’s are available from www. cardboardcharlie.com. At the launch, she will be accompanied by Paul Christiensen on bass, Pol O’Shea on guitar and Gabe Trew on drums.

She may also be joined by circus and singing friends. Hear songs from Fall at www.myspace. com/simonepenkethman Simone Penkethman, Fall, CD Launch at the Multicultural Fringe, Civic Square, Wednesday Feb 11, 8pm.

Sharp and poetic, Australian hip-hop has a confident new voice. Omar Musa, 2008 Australian Poetry Slam champion, releases his debut The Massive EP. From his poignant thoughts on big city life in Hemingway to the languid summer jam Opal, The Massive EP marries hip-hop, rock and funk. After winning the Triple J sponsored Realise Your Dream competition, he relocated to London to work in the music industry, collaborate with British rappers such as grime star Akala, and pen the beginnings of his debut EP. “It is a strange animal of an album,” says Musa. “Written in London, recorded in the States, rapped by a Malaysian-Australian, I feel like it definitely has an original vibe.” The EP was produced entirely by rock veteran Geoff Stanfield, formerly of well known US alternative bands Sun Kil Moon and Black Lab. Of working with Stanfield, Musa says “I finally felt as if I had found the perfect sounds to compliment my lyrics.” With a big voice, big beats and poetic vignettes based on the life of a Queanbeyan native abroad, this truly is The Massive EP. Omar Musa will perform with DJ Rush at the Multicultural Fringe, Civic Square, on Sunday Feb 8 at 9:30pm. He will performan on the opening night, Friday February 6.

"Every story is a door. Every door is a story."

Forged from wooden cogs and lizard grease, Mr Fibby are eighteenth century Ukraine¹s musical answer to Voltron, comprising: The noted card shark and duck smuggler ZAVI (aka Sam King) on guitar; Renowned drag king and Rusalka SERAPHINA (aka Emma Jasmine Kelly) on violin; Perpetual ladies man and carnival refugee BORRACIO (aka Spike Thompson), on cello; And the highly preposterous, rambling biscuit barrel NO IMPORANT (aka Adam Hadley) their story teller.

Little Girl Lost In The Devil¹s Black Beard is a rollicking, uplifting tragedy about the deeply depressing adventures of the smallest, loneliest, ugliest girl ever to have lived.

Join the little girl lost as she searches for her violin, lost to a most curious black bearded man. Mr Fibby have weaved a high speed moral free fairy tale that is a fist in the air for the unlucky, the unloved, and the ugly. It is music, it is theatre, it is neither. It is a whirling dervish of despair. And it is too late for you to turn back now.

Little Girl Lost In The Devil¹s Black Beard: Saturday 7, Sunday 8 & Monday 9 of February, 2009, 9PM Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre $15 full / $12 Concession Tickets available at the door or book with Canberra Ticketing: 02 6275 2700

TOP DECK BLACKBOX

ue se that buarlteitsq li a re to s le p o “I want pemisunderstood and th an a re th has been b g nothingsemiso wrong. ” in e f o e g a im f striptea gaudy form o Cecilia Pattison-Levi The phoenix of burlesque is beginning to rise from the ashes with its singular charm and humour, along with an old-school sex appeal that revolves around that which is left to the theatre of the imagination, rather than flashed in the face.

Lani Gerrish, also known as The Magnificent Liberté Belle, is a burlesque performer who has been dazzling audiences in Canberra and beyond for several years - and she is organising and performing during A STACKED DECK burlesque festival. It is real burlesque; a blend of art forms pitched somewhere between stand-up comedy, theatrical satire and striptease, but also incorporating parody, glamour and sharp social satire. It is vaudeville.

“It’s great fun. It’s liberating and anyone can have a try. Anyone! All shapes and sizes and abilities,” says Lani. “We want everyone to come along and experience real burlesque performances and hopefully get into the performing side of it and try out the different workshops in all areas from magic to stage craft.”

“The burlesque movement, if you like, is quite a broad umbrella,” Lani continues. “It’s about a modern-day group of performers who are rearticulating and reinventing quite an ancient art form. It has its roots in the ancient Greek plays and choruses, medieval Italian theatre, music hall and vaudeville. But today’s burlesque, I guess, draws mainly for inspiration on the American hey-day of burlesque from the ‘30s through to the ‘50s, which is what most people think of when they think of burlesque. It’s a pastiche of various different entertainment forms.”

Lani hopes the Fringe Festival will present Canberrans with a representation of burlesque more in line with the historical origins of the artform.“The burlesque movement is about rekindling a form of adult entertainment that blends many different disciplines from magic to dance to social satire and commentary,” she says.“It is performed by both men and women. I want people to realise that burlesque has been misunderstood and that its image of being nothing more than a gaudy form of striptease is wrong. Traditionally, burlesque was about burlesquing something, so it was about sending up social mores, sending up the upper classes and poking fun at things.”

“It is more than that French strip tease thing,” Lani emphasises. “I know some burlesque performers don’t go in that direction and are just purely about the titillation and the feathers and so on, but for me and the burlesque performers at this year’s Fringe Festival, the humour or the possibility of making social comment in a light-hearted way is a big part of what we do.

“It’s going to be a great show and experience for the people who want to take part – especially the workshops in different forms of theatre. I hope that people will want to come along and have a great, fun experience.”

A Stacked Deck Burlesque Festival @ Fringe 09 runs from Thursday February 12 to Saturday February 14. The Feb 12 show kicks off at 7pm at Courtyard Studio Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre and is $18 at the door. The Feb 13 show rolls into action at 7pm sharp at the Fringe Club, Civic Square Canberra and entry is free. For enquiries and bookings for the Feb 14 workshops, please contact amy@ galeandvallance.com.au . Workshop places are strictly limited and must be booked.

It’s Christmas time for the square-eyed among us – that magical week in February where the networks scramble like mad to jam as much new product as possible into the weekly schedule in a bid to win rating week one. It’s a mythical time before they have ratings reports on any of their shows, and probably a nervous wait for newly appointed TV execs. It is, though, a virtual wonderland of wall-to-wall programming that will be gone in a second if less than a million viewers tune. So join with me – put some ice in a bucket and sit in front of the fan, push through the pain and save new shows from disappearing before they get a chance to suck us in. Let all Blackbox readers faithfully pledge to watch at least 15 hours a week throughout February in a bid to give new shows a chance.

So now for the shows. Your viewing smorgasbord begins on Sunday February 7 with a new season of City Homicide (Prime, Sun Feb 8, 8.30pm), a timeslot Prime tells us will be its new home… we shall see.

It’s followed by 24 (Prime, Sun Feb 8, 9.30pm) trying to take on Rove (SCTEN, Sun Feb 8, 9pm).

Monday is blockbuster night so if you don’t have a digi recorder, get one now. Alongside Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (WIN, Mon Feb 9, 8.30pm) which premieres with a two-hour episode, and is up against the new season of Dexter. Cap off the night with the new season of Boston Legal (Prime, Mon Feb 9, 10.30pm) and savour it because it will be the last – once a Shatner doubter, your fearless columnist will miss Denny Crane.

Elsewhere, there’s Brothers and Sisters (Prime, Mon, 9.30pm). You might be able to squeeze in Good Game (ABC2, Mon, 8.30pm) and JTV with the Doctor (ABC2, Mon, 9pm), but it’s probably best to catch the repeats on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Tuesday is a little dire with more NCIS (SCTEN, Tue, 8.30pm). Lie to Me (SCTEN, Tue, 9.30pm) looks like a bit of a dodgy premise but the inclusion of Tim Roth in the cast spells good things – we shall see. And then there’s the shamefully addictive Dirty Sexy Money (Prime, Tue, 11.30pm). Try Auntie for Lead Balloon (ABC1, Tue, 7.30pm) and Dr Who repeats (ABC1, Tue, 8.30pm).

Wednesday, as it has been for the past couple of years, belongs to Auntie’s comedy line-up with Spicks and Specks (ABC1, Wed, 8.30pm), Chandon Pictures (ABC1, Wed, 9pm) and Ruddy Hell it’s Harry and Paul (ABC1, Wed, 9.35pm). Over at WIN, the pick is Flashpoint (WIN, Wed Feb 11, 9.30pm).

Except for the US version of Life on Mars (SCTEN, Thu Feb 5, 9.30pm) with Harvey Keitel, Thursday night is repetitive crime night so if you like your Law and Order (SCTEN, Thu, 8.30pm) mostly sliced with repeats then it’s there in spades. And speaking of spades, finally a lifestyle show for viewers under 55: Guerilla Gardeners (SCTEN, Wed Feb 18, 7.30pm) follows six renegade gardeners beautifying public spaces under the cloak of darkness – it’s like tagging but with a prettier and purposeful end result.

Saturday night is for old faithfuls like The Vicar of Dibley (Prime, Sat Feb 14, 7.30pm) and for the swill that the networks had to purchase to get the cream. The fact that Prime is choosing to air Not Going Out (Prime, Sat Feb 14, 9.20pm) and Gavin and Stacey (Prime, Sat Feb 14, 10pm) on Valentine’s Day does not bode well.

So after strapping yourself in for all this excitement, you’ve decided you want a career in television right? Project Next, a new topical ABC series is for you – on air and behind the camera opportunities. The catch – as with all things, you have to be under 30. Visit www.projectnext.net.au for details. Applications close March 16. Let us know how you do.

Over the next few weeks your intrepid Blackbox columnist will be bringing you tasty morsels from the world of European television as she heads overseas on a whistle-stop tour of the continent. But fear not faithful companions, you will be still be treated to all the news of what’s happening at home through the magic of the world wide webiverse.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

THEATRE COLUMN Multicultural Fringe is upon us! I would go in for a massive rambling introduction, detailing not only all the awesome awesomeness but also WHY said awesomeness is awesome, with footnotes and an annotated bibliography and cross-references to other fringe festivals around the world, but that would be leading me in for way more work, wouldn’t it?* And, to boot, it’d be dull as hell.** So instead, here’s a list of my picks for the Fringe.*** 1. Mr Fibby in Little Girl Lost in the Devil’s Black Beard. Courtyard Studio, Saturday 7 – Monday 9 February @ 9pm. Tix $15/$12 at the door or through Canberra Ticketing.

Anyone who has seen Mr Fibby perform knows that these cats are the theatrical music mash-up to end all mash-ups. To quote, they are ‘eighteenth century Ukraine’s musical answer to Voltron’. Their fringe show about the ugliest girl ever to have lived and her search for her lost violin should be primo.

2. Centrepiece Theatre’s Hot Audio Wallpaper. Courtyard Studio, Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 February @ 7pm and 9pm. Tix $15/$12 as above.

If you missed it last year, here’s a second chance to see Jordan Best directing Stuart Roberts’ play about muzak. It’s great. Just see it.

3. Six Billion Love. Courtyard Studio, Saturday 7 – Monday 9 February @ 7pm. Tix $15/$12, just like before.

If you’re heading to Mr Fibby’s show, why not just pop in a couple of hours earlier so you can catch Six Billion Love, a butoh-inspired live art piece conceived by CYT’s Pip Buining, directed by Chenoeh Miller and performed by members of CYT. Looks like a physical theatre treat.

4. Le Petite Sideshow. Courtyard Studio, Friday 13 and Saturday 14 February @ 7pm and 9pm. Tix $15/$12.

Circus Freaks. Sideshows. The simple words fill Theatre Column with wistful memories to the ‘good’ old days before Siamese twins were routinely separated and unnecessary facial hair on dames could be treated with hormone therapy. Whether they smell like cabbage or not, Theatre Column loves a carnie.

Other Shi – I mean, Other Stuff Don’t forget the Multicultural Festival proper, featuring shows like Ariel Dorfman’s Purgatorio (Street 2 from Feb 11 to 14) or Valentino at Canberra Theatre Feb 13 and 14, the latest ‘blockbuster musical’ about a dead celebrity, in this case Rudolph Valentino.

TC thinks ‘biographical blockbuster musical’ should be compounded into the generic descriptor ‘blockbiocal’, or perhaps ‘musibiobuster’.

Apart from the MF, there is Bohemian’s residency show at Manning Clark House, titled Hungers, which runs from February 3 to 8. Seats are limited and hard to come by, so if you want a spot you need to get in contact with the Boho men through their facebook fan page. Search for Boho Interactive.

NAOMI MILTHORPE princessnaea@gmail.com *For a list of Fringe Festivals around the world see www.roguefestival. com/festlist.html ** Rather like the opening paragraph of this column, in many ways.

For other instances of dull opening paragraphs to Theatre Column see Issues 279 to 315. *** The observant reader will notice that Theatre Column’s picks are all playing at the Courtyard Studio. The speculative reader will posit, based on this fact, that Theatre Column simply went to the Canberra Theatre website and looked at all the Fringe shows in the Courtyard Studio. The paranoid reader will assume Theatre Column is in the pay of both the Fringe Festival and the Canberra Theatre. The latter can be categorically denied.

DISCOLOGY A Camp Colonia (Reveal) I am a massive Cardigans fan and while not totally into the A Camp spin off, I was kind of getting impatient for a new Cardigans album. It’s been a while, but listening to the second A Camp release leaves me wondering just what Nina Persson considers to be her side project now. Colonia is one of those albums in which you have a new favourite track as each song passes. It’s an impressively complete suite that flows perfectly with no concessions to filler at all. Song highlights include the first single Stronger Than Jesus, My America, I Signed The Line, Bear On The Beach, Love Has Left The Room and It’s Not Easy To Be Human’and I have to give a special mention to the beautiful duet Gold Teeth And Silver Medals and the Adam and the Ants inspired Here Are Many Wild Animals. Colonia is an absolute must for fans of The Cardigans.

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI The Blackwater Fever Sweet Misery (+ 1 Recordings) While most of us may view blues as one of those dusty old toys that you keep in the attic and only bring out long enough to show it off to your friends, The Blackwater Fever is a whole new breed.

This two-piece band, originating in Brisbane, has struggled to the top and with their new release, Sweet Misery, is unlikely to relinquish their roost.

Their gritty, garage blues sound is only enhanced by vocalist/guitarist Shane Hicks’ guttural and heartbroken howl.

The songs featured on Sweet Misery vary from upbeat blues-rock to the laid-back blues that started everything off. Such tracks as Back For You and Better Off Dead have that blues sound that is both disgruntled and filled with such emotion that you can’t help but wonder what all of it is directed at. In contrast, songs such as Blackwater and Crawlin’ Skin bring you into the garageblues that most defines Blackwater Fever. Upbeat and gritty, these songs pull the album together and show listeners that this band isn’t going to take crap from anyone. The title track Sweet Misery has an eerie feel that is so dark and, for lack of a better word, visual, that you feel as though you yourself have travelled down some back road and found yourself in a shanty town built up years ago and long forgotten.

Their song Lovesick is easily noted as either a respectful nod to their predecessors the White Stripes, or a blatant backhanded slap to the twopiece replicas that can’t seem to come up with an original thought of their own. Regardless of which way it was intended, Lovesick is a fast paced, incredibly original and catchy song that screams to be listened to. Regardless of the music, the presentation alone of this album is inspired. The CD itself has been made up to resemble a record, side A if you will, and the songs have been laid out as though the music were originally put on record and then recorded digitally for final production.

At the beginning and halfway through the album are the introduction and interlude that seem to have gone missing in our digital age. While they aren’t required listening, they still provide a breather so you can take everything

in before being blown away yet again.

All together, the album is a great piece that anyone who still enjoys a good blues album is sure to lap up.

BRAD PYN Claire Wyndham Lazy Side Of Crazy (Independent) Sydney singer songwriter Claire Wyndham has released her album Lazy Side Of Crazy and it is a fine example of clever songwriting performed by a superb vocalist with terrific power pop tunes. This musician has all the songs and the great hooks that rival anything by the likes of Michelle Branch or any other US/European pop princess can deliver. I am forever happy that those good folk at CD Baby said listen to this and with songs such as the title track Lazy Side of Crazy and Sooner or Later to the thought provoking Show Me - I was sold. What really bites though is this girl is from Australia and Americans have to tell me how good she is. Why won’t our industry support talent like this. For Lazy Side Of Crazy is a great album full of melodic songs and lyrical surprises that keep coming and no filler either. Claire Wyndham is definitely worth tracking down live or on CD. Listen to what we are missing.

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI Erin McCarley Love, Save The Empty (Universal) Erin McCarley has been a busy girl.

Long before her songs or album was actually available on iTunes or to buy, we were hearing her music on television and on the film He’s Just Not That Into You, and she’s already sold more than 15,000 copies of the first song on the album Pony (It’s OK) a great radio friendly power pop single. After listening to the rest of the album, I have to say we’ll probably be hearing a lot more of Erin’s music on the radio, and in television and movie soundtracks.

Love, Save the Empty is a collection of honest songs of her experiences as she dealt with the emotional trials of growing up. Style-wise, she is a lite version of Fiona Apple, with sort of a breathless chanteuse sound.

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI Fatboy Slim Dance Bitch (Southern Fried Records/Liberator) “Nothing like striking when the iron is decidedly cold,” good friend and fellow BMA-er Justin Hook retorted to me, upon the discovery that Fatboy Slim would be headlining this year’s Good Vibrations festivities. It’s undeniably true; Cook’s heyday in the late ‘90s saw him slink through the quagmire that was the amusingly titled sub-genre of “Big Beat” to score critical and commercial success with heavily sampled, simplistic but catchy-as-fuck tracks such as Rockerfella Skank, Gangsta Trippin and the played-to-death for-the-love-of-God-if-you-press-playone-more-time-on-that-shit-I-will-killyou-woman-so-help-me-God Praise

You. Then Palookaville was released and the aforementioned iron was dunked in ice water. Now the man’s back with a one-two; an artist album under his new The BPA guise (Brighton Port Authority) and this; a 16 track mix CD of <ahem> upfront banging house classics. The tone of this review has been somewhat cynical thus far, so you’ll be forgiven, dear reader, for expecting a panning. But actually, this is quite good. The mix skips along at a good pace and provides a merry jaunt through angry, energetic, snarling, attitude-filled club jams. Your favourites like The Chemical Brothers, Soulwax and Santogold all make an appearance, as does Aquasky, whose devastating It Will Knock You Out make this disc worth the price of admission alone. So, this old dog might have a few tricks left up his sleeve after all it.

ALLAN SKO Greg Coffin Trio It’s Neither Either Or. It’s Both and.

(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes) It’s Neither Either Or. It’s Both and: The title of the album itself is probably the most intriguing aspect of the whole album. Not to say that the album wasn’t ‘good’. But there isn’t much that I can say except that, it's a ‘Jazz’ album. I haven’t heard an album in a long time that is closer to the definition of ‘jazz’. This only means that if you’re a jazz enthusiast, this album is definitely worth purchasing from….. wherever you buy your albums from?

One thing that is for sure, it was actually quiet pleasant to see that Australians do have the ability to produce good jazz albums. The album flows like Cristal at the Source awards, each track complimenting the previous one effortlessly. Greg Coffin and his boys, Cameron Undy and Nic Cecire have definitely put together a pretty good album. Album may sound better under the influence.

FAZ NUR AKA DR CHOCOLATE

Marshall Law Razorhead (DR2 Records/Riot Distribution) It’s a travesty that more people don’t know about Birmingham’s Marshall Law, a band that’s plied its trade since the mid-‘80s, releasing four studio albums full of sheer metallic class in the process. Always unfairly viewed by those who should know better as something of a poor man’s Judas Priest, the fact is that on Razorhead, their fifth ‘proper’ album, the ‘Law have far outstripped anything the Metal Gods have released this century.

Quite simply, this is no-holds-barred traditional heavy metal as it should be played – gut wrenching in intensity, yet with another spine-tingling melodic vocal hook or swift-fingered arpeggiated delight always around the next corner to add some light ‘n’ shade, with songs - make that SONGS - always in the forefront of the band’s thoughts.

Hence, despite it’s ear-shredding ferocity, Blood and Pain will have you scaring pensioners at the bus stop as it smacks you upside your head, roaring into your consciousness from your lava-hot portable device, willing you to chant along to the simplistic brutality of its chorus, whilst Headtrap proves that veteran metallers can turn their hands to more ‘modern’ sounding material without coming across as silly old men. Marshall Law are masters of their art, and this is a magnificent record.

Splendid stuff.

SCOTT ADAMS Missing Hours Missing Hours (Sony/BMG) Missing Hours is the self-titled debut album from Melbourne siblings Ant and Emma Hewitt. It is a collection of gritty, raw, emotive and hauntingly beautiful tracks, including their first two pair of singles Falling Down and Machine.

Missing Hours is a firmly grounded album of well-crafted songs that carry the listener on a journey from start to

School of Seven Bells Alpinsim (Inertia) The musical marriage of Benjamin Curtis (Secret Machines) and the Dehaza sisters (On!Air!Library!) may not sound much to the uninitiated, but to those who are rightfully unmoved by the insipid retro, astro-psychedelic movement as spearheaded by worthless poseurs like MGMT, Alpinism is the album to force a reassessment of your position. Whilst hazy dream pop, fem vox are hardly a reinvention of the wheel Alejandra and Claudia Dehave sound attached to the music on this record, primal without the need for aggression, their drift has direction thanks primarily to a path already carved out in experimental ambient pop. However, it’s the addition of Curtis that finds School of Seven Bells moving beyond aimless side project status. His real talent is finding a metronomic hypnotic groove, building and then releasing shimmering fragments of chords, notes and feedback. In Secret Machines bombast tended to overcome song structure, but on tracks like Wired For Light, White Elephant Coat and For Kalaja Mari organic world beat dynamics are natural bedfellows with glorious sun soaked melodies, massive sheets of shrapnel snow gaze noise and otherworldly bleeps, the latter coming on like some Himalayan siren song. Chain is the exciting amalgamation of what Stereolab should like if they had a brief Eddy Grant phase. Alpinism may sound like a dog’s breakfast but it’s a magnificent cohesive slab of infectious joy noise.

JUSTIN HOOK

finish. The siblings have an indescribable charisma and style. Falling Down is a classic rock song; Emma’s sweet, soaring vocals offer the perfect light to the dark, brooding rock of her brother Ant. Interesting stuff.

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI Sarah McLachlan Closer: The Best Of Sarah McLachlan (SonyBMG) Closer is a strong compilation album of McLachlan’s best work. She has long been one of the titans of female musicians and this is a respectful gathering of her discography from the past 20 years. The early stuff is nice to remind yourself where she began but once those memorable ballads and pop hits start coming, you it’s hard to resist singing along or, indeed, lighting a candle. After all, it is Sarah McLachlan.

This isn’t workout music - far from it.

McLachlan delivers softly sung, beautiful music from a strong female writer, and when it is collected nicely like this, why not just enjoy the great lyrics and melodic sounds.

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI Satyricon The Age of Nero (Roadrunner) Norwegian misanthropes Satyricon are back and, praise the dark one, they’re back in top form. TAON is their seventh album and whilst they’ve come a long way from the frostbitten primitivity of their early days (so much so that many of their early fans won’t have a bar of them any more), there’s an unrelenting bleakness about this release that’ll have more sensible metal fans frothing at the mouth in excitement over the material on offer. From the get-go, opener Commando crawls from the speakers in monstrous fashion, vocalist Satyr’s sinister croak propelling the song’s chorus in highly unsettling style - there’s no let up. By the time Den Siste closes proceedings three quarters of an hour later, you’ll feel battered and in need of an oil bath to get rid of the clinging shroud of filth that this album sets down wherever it rests. Unsettling, hideous, absolutely brilliant.

SCOTT ADAMS Star Fucking Hipsters Until We’re Dead (Fat Wreck Chords) StZA Crack is back and although the ‘crack rock steady’ is not as inspired, an onslaught of punk/ska/crust will keep followers of his bands (Choking Victim, INDK, Leftover Crack) from suffering withdrawal pains. This time StZA trades off vocals with a long searched for female vocalist, Nico de Gaillo (Another Dying Democracy), and is again joined

by Ara Babajian (The Slackers/Leftover Crack) on drums. The group is rounded out by Frank Piegaro on guitar and female bassist Yula Beeri (World Inferno Friendship Society). Some of the 13 tracks tend to drag, so try before you buy. Highlights include the Title Track, Immigrants & Hypocrites, Snitch to the Suture, Zombie Christ and 9/11 Was (An Inside Joke).

SIMON HOBBS

Tara Blaise Great Escape (Itunes download) Tara Blaise is an Irish singer song writer and this is her second solo album. Those familiar with Tara’s debut Dancing On Tables Barefoot will note a development in her material, not only as a result of writing with a broader range of collaborators, but also in the depth of the production. The songs are universally more accessible with lush harmonies and stronger instrumental arrangements. Her voice has improved as well. The songs are mostly pop rock, but there are some great songs like Make You, Breathe, Fall At The Start and Let’s Talk. If you like Heather Nova, then check this album out. The Great Escape is available as a download from iTunes.

CECILIA PATTISON-LEVI Winston Giles Lovers (Playup/MGM) Under the guise of The Winston Giles Orchestra, Giles released two magnificent album of Lemon Jellyesque electronic beauty, proving he had a deft ear for a tune and the mastery of sonic layering to pull it off. Along with his Orchestra moniker, the man has cast aside his Air-like musical jacket with Lovers for a dabble in the more four-four house orientated side of things. And you know what? It’s pretty damn good too.

The first track (and first single) Harder and Faster had me worried on first spin; it’s not bad, per se, but suggested an altogether commercial house leaning, which is possibly the dirtiest genre currently polluting the airwaves. But after that, it’s eight nuggets of electronic magic, with particular sparks thrown up with the gurgling energy of Get My Demons Out, the dreamy mindmelt of High On a Feeling and album highlight Messed Up Again, exhibiting a slow introspective stomp and melancholic swirls that underpin earnest lyrics spilling regret. At just shy of 38 minutes, this is very accomplished little album that doesn’t overstay its welcome, and warrants repeat spins as a result.

ALLAN SKO

Don't forget HAPPY HOURS in the ANU Bar Every Week Day 4pm-6pm

Jim Beam on Campus Pool Comp every Tuesday 5pm rego, 6pm start Visit www.myspace.com/ anubar

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Cell Out

With Mark Russell; a campaigner for uncivil rights...ya cunt.

Milk was a scary film for me to watch. Not in any homophobic, eww man-love, kind of way. It was scary because incredibly open political bigotry against gay people was still happening less than a decade before I was born. It’s also sad.

Not merely for the tragic events it portrays, but for the fact that I don’t know that we should be proud of our rate of progress since then. For example, I don’t think Milk would have attracted the mainstream cast and backing it did without Brokeback Mountain’s success. Brokeback is a superb film, but in the end one of its strongest themes is homosexual self-loathing. Is this to make us feel ok watching it? With the countless personalities in and out of the closet in Hollywood, you’d think an honest depiction would be a little easier to come by.

Dan White (Josh Brolin): Society can't exist without the family.

Harvey Milk (Sean Penn): We're not against that.

Dan White: Can two men reproduce?

Harvey Milk: No, but God knows we keep trying.

Milk

Milk “My name is Harvey Milk, and I want to recruit you.”

So became the catchcry for the charismatic, confident Harvey Milk, one of America’s first gay activists. Milk joins Harvey (Sean Penn) on the eve of his 40th birthday, lamenting “40 years old, and I’ve done nothing to be proud of.”

Just over eight years later Milk was assassinated and mourned by thousands as a relentless crusader for gay rights.

Van Sant’s brilliant film follows these eight years in a measured chronological fashion, from moving to San Fran for peace, to spurned street level activism, to eventual election as supervisor.

Strong as Harvey may be, the relentless fight wears, and this is the film’s key: as social commentary, it documents – both through restrained storytelling

Bride Wars ‘Lame Romantic Comedy’ checklist: Two leading ladies, BFFs but polar opposites? Check. Typical New York setting? Check. Candice Bergen in a supporting role? Check. Lessons learned, love found, corny happy ending that probably took as much imagination to conjure up as it takes to grate cheese?

Check. The result? Bride Wars.

Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anna Hathaway) are two brides-to-be who both want their perfect wedding to be at the Plaza Hotel. When a mix-up means that only one of them can live the dream, a catfight of epic proportions ensues.

As Liv and Emma proceed to play lame and unimaginative tricks on each other in the days leading up to their

Valkyrie The opening credits fade and we open on Colonel Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) narrating his journaling in awkward German. The subtitles cease as Stauffenberg’s internal monologue switches to Cruise’s regular all-American drawl. This is intended to be a gradual morph, leaving us completely at peace with English replacing German throughout Valkyrie. It might do the trick too, if they’d restricted themselves to American accents. But no, we get American, British, an occasional bit of French and then - inexplicably - Adolf Hitler has a German accent. This is somewhat puzzling.

We’re following a group of German soldiers and top officials in their attempt to assassinate the Fuhrer. This, they hope, will stop his maniacal reign

and perfectly interweaved stock footage – one of the most crucial periods of America’s (gay) history. As a character piece, it perfectly captures both the might of Milk, and the vulnerability exposed by relentless discord, driven by unarguably the best performance of Penn’s lofty career.

With such searing subject matter, it would be easy to take over-the-top swings at bigotry and bigots themselves. Instead, we are shown attitudes, the emotional after-effects of those targeted, and are allowed as an intelligent viewer to make up our own mind.

Good films don’t demonise.

The supporting cast is excellent, in particular Josh Brolin’s tortured Dan White (delivering one of the film’s key scenes where he drunkenly arrives to Milk’s

birthday celebrations). James Franco also shines as Milk’s hugely likable squeeze Scott Smith who, along with a frankly staggering turn as James Dean in the largely average Dean, is quickly becoming an actor of great worth.

Coincidentally, Milk’s release coincides with the election of the first AfricanAmerican president, with both events highlighting the stark segregation that has gone before, and the hope for the future. 30 years after his death, thanks to Harvey Milk the brave, Penn the uncowardly, and Van Saant’s wonderful film’s portrayal of them, Harvey can expect many more recruits to follow.

weddings, their dull-as-dirt fiancées stand by and provide dumbed-down running commentaries for all the idiots watching at home, practically creating a personality-less vortex. These two get lumped with most of the stupid filler dialogue – whatever isn’t already allocated to Liv and Emma’s shallow and stereotypical circle of girlfriends, that is.

Director Gary Winick could perhaps be forgiven for making the supporting characters utterly cardboard, but Liv and Emma themselves have very little depth. These two are barely a wading pool’s worth of emotional complexity.

We get it - Emma is a people-pleaser and Liv a control freak. But please, continue to ram this point down our throats for the duration of the film, before applying some ’convenient

ending’ sticky tape and slapping an obvious bid for a sequel onto the end.

Essentially, this is 90 minutes of two well-groomed monkeys fighting over a banana.

Look, it’s not that bad. Don’t misinterpret me – Bride Wars is utter rubbish.

But it’s not pretending to be anything else. It’s clichéd and completely unoriginal, existing in a special rom-com land where laughable caricatures float around in a sea of poor exposition.

But come on. Being surprised that this film is bad is like being surprised that an egg breaks when you throw it at the wall.

and save Germany. The people this film is based on are to be admired, regardless of the fact we know they failed.

Unfortunately, at no time does Valkyrie feel like an accurate portrayal. Cruise and his cronies are constantly making speeches that are a direct apology to today’s generations rather than sticking with natural dialogue. No matter how dire a situation a country’s in, it’s hard to believe people would walk around saying “We must act now or this will forever be Hitler’s Germany.” Smacks very heavily of 20-20 hindsight methinks.

Director Bryan Singer has also shown that he doesn’t quite have the minerals for a film like this. The quality of X-Men and The Usual Suspects make his talent indisputable but this larger dramatic scope leaves him floundering in a twodimensional and unrealistic world.

His only success is an admirable ability to bring tension to a plot we all know is a foregone conclusion. But as things start to fall apart for the conspirators he, and screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, make this group look more and more incompetent.

This material is very cinematic, and the assembled cast should be up to the challenge, but in the end Valkyrie is as regrettable a failure as the event it depicts.

ALLAN SKO

MEGAN McKEOUGH

MARK RUSSELL

GIG REVIEWS Trackside Festival @ Thoroughbred Park, Saturday November 22 “Canberrans are cursed; we are incapable of having a festival without it pissing down rain.”

Although the weather was less then perfect, Thoroughbred Park served up a monstrous line up; groups from labels big and small gathered to show Canberra they really do remember that we exist when scheduling tour dates. Freezing to death would be an understatement when attempting to explain the weather on the 22nd. However Hancock Basement and Los Capitanes, being first cabs off the rank, helped warmed up the growing number of punters.

With the time bomb that is Canberra’s weather ticking away, the Landspeed Stage tried its hardest to keep up with the wind. However, once midday had rolled around the winds got heavier and attempted to blow Little Red right off stage. This did not stop the Melbourne group pumping out their rapturous sound that certainty separated them from any other group on the day. Although anticipated, the raging winds, hail and throbbing rain threw the entire crowd into a frenzy; we were all torn between good music and warmth. Luckily the majority of the crowd manned up and sacrificed their health for the love of music.

When the rain stopped and the sun decided to make an appearance, so did Muph and Plutonic along with DJ Bones, Bliss N Eso and Bluejuice, who all certainly reminded us why we left our houses and trekked all the way down the Federal Highway. As the day grew longer the triple j stage was ready for action and the floor had transformed into a heavy ocean of raging fans, plastic ponchos and empty cans. Although there were a few technical difficulties with sounds and effects due to the weather, the Trackside sound crew put on an electric show inside with sensational performances by The Panics and Gyroscope, who were backed up by Cut Copy who absorbed the crowd with their somewhat ceremonial performance.

The comedy stage became the place to be at one point or another during the day with a variety of laughs from comedians all over Australia. Each comedian had his own method which constantly resulted in rounds of chuckles from the crowd gathered around the bar.

As dusk came upon us, each and every Trackside lackey was forced to make a choice of great importance, a choice that could make or break the entire feel of the festival. There were three main stages open and each of us had to decide which one to hang around ‘til the end of the festival. Some chose to get literally Sidetracked (all puns intended) in the over-18s section with Milkbar Nick and the Pang DJs on the decks, whilst others chose to stay outside at the Landspeed Stage (which by nightfall had begun to replicate a swamp) with British India, Something With Numbers and The Getaway Plan. However, as fast as you can say ‘Ben from Grafton Primary has a keytar’, the entire crowd split in half.

Outside Grafton Primary headlined the Landspeed Stage, performing a superbly crafted set of domineering beats fused with controlled vocals creating a galvanized effect on onlookers. Inside, like hundreds of moths to a fluorescent office lamp, crowds gathered to end their night with some home grown rockabilly entertainment. The Living End gave Canberra heart and soul when it came to their performance. Their vivacious energy was a real treat for all the senses.

Overall Trackside was quite the success. We Canberrans are never afraid of a little rain here and there, and when it comes to festivals we generally expect it. A massive shout out to all the artists who played on the day - thanks for helping keep the Canberra festival circuit alive!

EMA BOURKE

TRACKSIDE @ THOROUGHBRED PARK. TOP - BOTTOM: SPARKADIA (ANDREW MAYO) GYROSCOPE (ANDREW MAYO) THE LIVING END (ANDREW MAYO) CUTY COPY (NICK BRIGHTMAN)

GIG REVIEWS Block Party @ Trinity Bar, Dickson, Saturday January 10 My feet itched and my ears tingled with anticipation the entire week prior to Lexington Music’s third annual Block Party. The line-up was awesome, the signature theme was as cool as ever and on top of this, I was a Block Party virgin. So with only a skerrick of an idea of what to expect, I donned my thongs, a summer dress, grabbed some sunscreen and headed to Dickson.

I followed the sound of Van Halen’s highly recognisable Jump and found myself in a once familiar car park which was now completely transformed. The open side of a semi trailer provided the most innovative stage I have ever seen, and the old tyres, smoking oil drums and junk completed the Block Party look. A clothesline strung across the car park filled with random clothes and shoes added even more feel and had me looking for my favourite black t-shirt and odd socks.

D’Opus and Roshambo played to a VIP and media dominated crowd but nonetheless the boys let it fly. Ro snuck pal Omar up on stage for an old track which brought in a different tone and merged beautifully with the boys’ flavour. And, needless to say, Million Dollar Bill is still one hell of a crowd pleaser.

After what had been an overcast morning, the rays came out in force for The Bamboos. While some scrambled for the shade and the complimentary sunscreen (like your ever pale and pasty reporter), others dared the sun to do its worst (like my later sore and pink friend).

The Bamboos had a long instrumental intro before Kylie Audlist hit the stage and the feel of the day slipped into a funky, bluesy, jazz session.

Kylie’s full-bodied and voluptuous voice engulfed the car park as the band stepped left to right in perfect funk unison. I sat back, relaxed and chilled with my Corona and lime. Nice and cruisy…

Good Buddha followed The Bamboos in style, unleashing their funky reggae with a hip-hop twist. Do Right initiated the set, which progressed into the vocals and kept me firmly attached to the front barricade.

After the day’s dose of funk and soul it was back into the dance/house vibe with Sampology and Thom Thum, who wowed the crowd with their jaw-dropping skills. Thom Thum is one hell of a beat boxer and the synergy between him and Sampology was palpable. Not only can Thom beat box like no one I’ve ever heard, but he can do so with a Kazoo up his nose! Sampology worked his MPC expertly and managed to throw together a track full of Jamie Oliver cooking samples and then proceeded to mimic Thom’s beat boxing with his MPC, only further proving both his and Thom’s talent.

P-Money got off to a slightly rough start with some technical difficulties but still kept the crowd pacified and eagerly awaiting his first track. He began somewhat predictably, though not ineffectively, with Scribe’s Not Many which quickly had the crowd bouncing and singing along. P-Money had great stage presence; he loved every beat, the smile only leaving his face when concentrating on the decks.

After witnessing Adam Freeland’s set, it became obvious why he was slated to perform at the after party. He is a solid electro, tech/house DJ and didn’t fit with the vibe of the day so far. Regardless, punters still gravitated to the semi and the lights looked awesome.

Block Party has yet again come to a close and, I am afraid to say, possibly for the last time. After three block rockin’ years and thousands raised for charity, stringent noise restrictions appear to have disabled Block Party. Goldfinger did, however, propose a similar event under a new name and in a new venue for following years, so don’t lose all hope - prepare to roll into another kickin’ block near you!

JESS CONWAY Jen Cloher and the Endless Sea/Laura Jean/Julia Johnson @ The Front Gallery and Café, Saturday November 22 Whilst the elements descended pitilessly on the outside stage of Trackside, a smaller crowd gathered in the much cosier location of The Front to enjoy a trio of female pop/folk singers. Red wine and chai lattes replaced bourbon and beer as a predominantly female crowd nestled knee to knee on the wooden floor. Local songstress Julia (tonight without her Deep Sea Sirens) opened with a solo performance, bidding the intimate audience to come thither and relax to sweet songs of longing and wistfulness. She employed an

interesting variety of playing techniques with songs of variable, but soothing tempo, that left a few people (who had partied the night before at the Jester Ball) looking like they might nod-off.

Jen Cloher maintained the theme as she kicked off with Longing Song in a solo performance, before her backing band (including Laura Jean on keys and vocals) joined her from the second song onwards. Her lower, more resonant voice took us on an intensely personal journey that included the poignant Watch Me Disappear about her mum’s battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. The extensive backing of keys, guitar, bass and violin wove a rich, beautiful sound that kept the punters entranced. The violinist proved to be a mean hand with the musical garden saw too, adding further eerie sounds which deepened the emotionally-charged atmosphere.

Laura Jean was the consummate story teller as her soft, floating and ethereal voice spun tales of her life, ending with the emotional Marry Me about her own relationship. Sometimes her delivery is so delicate, you’d think any intruding sound might shatter it. Laura had to adapt her set slightly as her drummer, and partner, was off crook.

The tapping of her shoe against the wooden floor rang clearly as she maintained the rhythm. However, the quality of the sound, including clarinet, bass, violin and accordion was magic. The clarinet in particular really enriched the feel of the show, as amply demonstrated in the ever popular I’m a Rabbit, I’m a Fox. RORY McCARTNEY Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ Enmore Theatre, Thursday January 29 Ryan Adams has copped his fair share of flak over the course of his career. Everything from his choice in female companions, self confessed destructive personal habits, crowd baiting antics, over expressive blogging, extreme work ethic matched with unrelenting cockiness …. pretty much anything he does attracts attention. Blame Adams for making it impossible to look the other way.

But there must be a reason that at around 10 albums into a solo career that has seen little radio attention outside the precocious early 2000’s he still manages to pack out the Enmore on a steamy Thursday evening in what must be one of the most overcrowded months in Sydney gig going memory. Within minutes of launching into When The Stars Go Blue from Heartbreaker it's clear that Adams is in good form exhibiting a clarity in voice, strength of purpose and overall tolerance that has been absent in some of his more recent tours. For example, a troublesome guitar mix for most of the night resulted in a few cagey sideways glances amongst those in the crowd who have experienced the worst but rather than haranguing a random roadie or throwing the shits around, he laboured away without the slightest appearance of nuisance. In the old days, a walk off would have been probable under similar circumstances. He was clearly having fun.

Engaging the audience in hammy, convivial chatter is not something we are accustomed to at his gigs, but there he was – cracking gags and batting off tiresome song requests like a Vegas pro. The occasional blasts of shredding metal riffing through the PA were odd, but playful.

Of course, any Ryan Adams show in this country is unfairly measured against his barnstorming shows in 2002, particularly the much heralded three hour marathon stint at the Metro. Mores the pity. Because Adams is a completely different beast in 2009. His detour through the Grateful Dead songbook still yields magnificent, transcendent jammy results (Let It Ride, Goodnight Rose, Peaceful Valley) and the much maligned Easy Tiger material plays much stronger on stage than record especially when Cardinals lock in and don’t get too fussy. But the older material aroused the biggest response and the inclusion of Oh My Sweet Carolina, Wonderwall, La Cienega, Rescue Blues and a bluesy, dusty low key version on New York, New York was more than enough to satiate.

Actually it was highly unexpected. With Cobwebs over and done, Adams retreated from the stage at the family friendly time of 11pm and headed off for a pizza ignoring the showbiz encore ritual. Adams has announced these will be the last shows he plays with Cardinals and it’s a confident bet that in 10 years time we’ll be talking up this tour as another highlight in an already extraordinary career.

JUSTIN HOOK

FIRST CONTACT: Write your band’s name as well as the name and phone number of the

person to contact (limit of two contacts ie. phone and email) and send $5 (cheque or money order made to Bands, Music, Action) to bma: PO Box 713, Civic Square, ACT, 2608. For your $5 you’ll stay on the register until you request removal. Changes to listings also cost $5.

Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Afternoon Shift Adam 0402 055 314 After Close Scotty 0412 742 682, afterclose@hotmail.com Alcove Mark 0410 112 522 Alice 0423 100 792 Allies ACT (Oxfam Group) alliesact@hotmail.com/ myspace.com/alliesact Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410 308 288 Amplif5'd Classic rock covers band Joy 0407 200 428, joybarac-heath@ hotmail.com.au Annie & the Armadillos Annette 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone singer/songwriter(guitar), sax & flute Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Kingswood Factory Sharon 0412 334 467 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Bastards Jamie 0424 857 282/ www.bastards.altpro.net Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Casual Projects Julian 0401 016 885 Catchpenny Nathan 0402 845 132 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 CD and Website Design Brendan 0404 042 574 Chris Harland Blues Band, The Chris 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Chuffs, The Glenn 0413 697 546 Cold Heart Projects Andrew 6294 5450 Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 087 833/colebennetts@gmail.com Colourful Racing Identities Josh 0410 135 605 Cool Weapon Luke 0410 983 450/ Josh 0412 863 019 Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Cumulonimbus Matt 0412 508 425 Dance With Amps Marcus 0421 691 332 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 DayTrippers, The Reidar 0414 808 677, daytrippers@grapevine.com.au (dp) New Media Artists Mal 0414 295 297 Dogact dog-act@hotmail.com, Paulie 0408 287 672.

DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ/MC Bootcamp Donte 9267 3655 DJ Latino Rogelio 0401 274 208 DJ Moises (RnB/Latin) 0402 497 835 or moises_lopez@hotmail DNA Vic 0408 477 020 Drumassault Kate 0414 236 323 Dubba Rukki Jim 0409 660 745 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicflagon.com EYE eye@canberra.teknet.net.au Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Dan 0410 480 321 FirePigs, The Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 4dead Peter 0401 006 551 Freeloaders, The Steve 0412 653 597 Friend or Enemy 6238 0083, www.myspace.com/friendorenemy Funk Shui Dave 0407 974 476 Gareth Hailey DJ & Electronica 0414 215 885 GiLF Kelly 0410 588 747, gilf.mail@gmail.com Guff Damian 6230 2767 HalfPast Chris 0412 115 594 Hancock Basement Tom 6257 5375, hancockbasement@hotmail.com Happy Hour Wendy 0406 375 096, Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com Hitherto Paul 0408 425 636 Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Infra Retina Kyle 0437 137 775/Michael

0430 353 893/www.infra-retina.com In The Flesh Scott 0410 475 703 Inside the Exterior Nathan 0401 072 650 Itchy Triggers Andrew 0401 588 884 Jacqui Seczawa 0428 428 722 JDY Clothing 0405 648 288/ www.jdyclothing.com Jenn Pacor singer/songwriter avail. for originals & covers, 0405 618 630 Jennifer Versatile singer looking for band; 0422 158 362 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/dj@ karismakatz.com Kurt's Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Lenders, The Tim 6247 2076 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Jules 0413 223 573 los.chavos@yahoo.com.au Manilla Green Herms 0404 848 462, contactus@manillagreen.com, Mario Brujo Gordon world/latin/reggae/ percussionist and DJ. 0405 820 895 Martin Bailey Audio Engineer 0423 566 093 Malumba Dan 6253 5150 MC Kayo Marbilus 0405 648 288 kayo_101@hotmail.com, www.myspace. com/kayo_marbilus, Meatbee Ben 0417 492 560 Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907/hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 Murder Meal Combo Anthony 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com Myriad Kath 6253 8318 MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus Neptune's Necklace Mark 6253 1048 No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Para 0402 277 007 Petra Elliott Petra 0410 290 660 Phathom Chris 0422 888 700 The Pigs The Colonel 0422 412 752 Polka Pigs Ian 6231 5974 Premier Audio Simon 0412 331 876, premier_audio@hotmail.com Queanbeyan Music & Electronics 6299 1020 Redletter Ben 0421 414 472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404 178 996/6162 1527 Rhythm Party, The Ross 0416 010 680 Roger Bone Band Andy 0413 483 758 Rob Mac Project, The Melinda 0400 405 537 Rug, The Jol 0417 273 041 Samsara Samahdi 0431 083 776 Sansutra J-Ma 0403 476 350 Sara Vancea Sara 6247 9899 Seditious Intent Toby 0419 971 547 Sindablok Duncan 0424 642 156 Simone Penkethman (Simone & The Soothsayers, Singing Teacher) 6230 4828 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401 588 884 Solid Gold Peter 0421 131 887/ solid.gold@live.com.au Stalker and Liife Darren 0413 229 049 Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 Taboo Bamboo Greg 0439 990 455 That ‘80s Band Ty 0417 265 013 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/transmissionnowhere TRS tripstate@hotmail.com Udo 0412 086 158 Undersided, The Baz 0408 468 041 Using Three Words Dan 0416 123 020, usingthreewords@hotmail.com Voodoo Doll Mark 0428 650 549 William Blakely Will 0414 910 014 Woden Youth Centre Jeremy 6282 3037 Zeitgeist www.zeitgeist.xwave Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

BMA BAND PROFILE

Where did your band name come from?

Blood⋅y [bluhd-ee] 1. Stained or covered with blood: a bloody handkerchief.

3. Characterized by bloodshed: bloody battle; a bloody rule.

4. Inclined to bloodshed; bloodthirsty: a bloody dictator.

6. Slang. (used as an intensifier): a bloody shame; a bloody nuisance.

Hu⋅man [hyu-man] 1. A member of the genus Homo and especially of the species Homosapiens.

2. Subject to or indicative of the weaknesses, imperfections, and fragility associated with humans: a mistake that shows he’s only human; human frailty.A member of the genus Homo and especially of the species H. sapiens.

Group members: Robbie Bob Baxter: guitar/vox, Stevie G: keys/harp/vox, Lukey “Bloody” Mess: guitar/vox, Billy Baker: drums/vox, J-Ha “Argh Me Harties” Jones: bass/vox.

Describe your sound: Prog/concrete/grime.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Humans and a bunch of arts and music created by them/us.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing?

The audience committing genocide and the milk spilling all over our socks!

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far?

Being able to perform with and support people of this country’s incredible ancient culture and inviting the community and community organisations to get involved in gigs.

What are your plans for the future?

Get educated…

What makes you laugh?

Dog scraps, fancy cars and the Southern Cross Club catch-phrase “Supporting Christian Values.”

What pisses you off?

Broad question… Heaps of shit, but mostly illogical human behaviour.

Selves included.

What’s your opinion of the local scene?

Excited, frustrated and confused. The diversity is good… but ‘scenes’ are fucked!

What are your upcoming gigs?

Propagandhi with Outcome Unknown, Jandemarra Wall and Pete Swain.

There will also be various social service info stalls, art works by Dollar ‘nor Dime and catering by My Rainbow Dreams veg café. February 20.

COOL! Contact info: bloodyhumans@gmail.com

GIG GUIDE February 5 - 8 THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5

ARTS _____________ Arc Cinema: Lady of Burlesque Barbara Stanwyck stars as a burlesque-detective in William Wellman's saucy thriller, based on the novel by Gypsy Rose Lee. Beginning 7:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE, ACTON Open Air: Portraits In The Landscape Australia is full of rich expressions of ideas and feelings about the landscape. This exhibition, with its evocative works from public and private collections across Australia, invites visitors to reflect on what places mean to people, and on how our views of ourselves are shaped by place. Open Air: Portraits in the Landscape has been organised by the National Portrait Gallery and curated by Andrew Sayers with Dr Sarah Engledow and Wally Curuana. Free entry. Runs until Mar 1 NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY KING EDWARD TERRACE, PARKES 2009 Actors Ensemble Acting courses for people aged 18-25. Develop core skills in acting, movement, voice, improvisation and performance making, and perform in Canberra Youth Theatre's major production Tank

by Hadley. Applications close Feb 23. Enquiries and enrolment call 6248 5057 or email pip@cytc.net CANBERRA YOUTH THEATRE Charles Darwin Exhibition The Charles Darwin exhibition details the life and work of naturalist Charles Darwin. It includes his travels and research work and shows how they helped shape his publication: The Origin of the Species. Runs until Apr 12. Free entry NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA, LAWSON CRESCENT, ACTON PENINSULA Brutal, Tender, Human, Animal: Roger Ballen Photography

By South African photographer Roger Ballen (b.1950, New York).

Runs until Mar 29. Free entry NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA EXHIBITION GALLERY, PARKES PLACE Shell-Shocked: Australia After Armistice On November 11, 1918 the Armistice was signed to end World War I. There were great efforts to bring serving Australians home from foreign fields.

Our service men and women came home to a different world.

This exhibition explores how the government, local communities, families and individuals dealt with the effects of war over the next 20 years. Follow journeys of repatriation and resettlement.

The exhibition combines government records with personal stories. Runs until Apr 27. Free NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, KING EDWARD TERRACE

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5 Another World Is Possible Opening Night Installations by Amina McConvell. From 6-8pm.

Runs until Feb 15 M16 ARTSPACE, MILDURA STREET FYSHWICK Terra Vivia - A Changing World An exhibition of painting, photography, ceramics and drawing that explores the dynamics of our changing world.

Until Feb 27. Free BELCONNEN GALLERY, BELCONNEN COMM. CENTRE Carol Seidel: An Australian's View of People Living in Taxco Carol has been travelling to Taxco for nearly 15 years buying silver jewelery to sell back in Australia. Over that period of time she has photographed and documented families and the people who live in the City of Taxco. Until Feb 15 THEO NOTARAS MULTICULTRAL FESTIVAL, CIVIC SQUARE A Series of Actions An exhibition by Alicia Kane and Kaye Pemberton. Until March 14 CRAFT ACT GALLERY 2, CIVIC SQUARE Debra Boyd-Goggin: New Ceramic Work Debra Boyd-Goggin explores memory and emotion through clay. In this new body of work she reflects on living in Tapini, Papua New Guinea at an early age and her connection to family and different cultures.

Until March 14 CRUCIBLE SHOWCASE, CIVIC SQUARE Highlights

By Gilbert Riedelbauch. New technologies are an important part of Riedelbauch's practice forming the development process from sketching to making. Until March 14 CRAFT ACT GALLERY'S, CIVIC SQUARE The Myths and Legends of the Ancient Race of Kangaroo Men Sculpture, drawing and photography. By Stephen Harrison. Until Feb 10 THE FRONT CAFE, LYNEHAM

DANCE _____________ Trash Thursdays $2 drinks until 2am and discounted cocktails. With DJs Adam and Esscue. 2 for 1 entry with Uni sticker ACADEMY, CIVIC Jemist KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Dommus Adultrus Regular live and local night, with Sally Holiday, The Big Score, DJ and The Karismakatz and Glenroi Heights. $7/$5 Canberra Musician Club members HIPPO, GAREMA PL, CIVIC Rather Large DJs With Adam Wesley and Smish TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Ashley Feraude (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

thursday february 5

friday february 6

LIVE _____________

LIVE ____________

Charles Chaitain From 9pm-midnight KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Abbie Cardwell From 9pm HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE

Fringe Festival Opening Night A plethora of performers opens Fringe 09 with beautiful destruction, amid a flurry of drums, music, theatre and experimental movement in Min Mae's La Belle Apocalypse; triple j Unearthed winner Abbie Cardwell and Her Leading Men, National Poetry Slam winner Omar Musa, The Crooked Fiddle Band and many more!

CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC Curious Fate From 10m-2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Veil With Entrophy, Between Mind and Exhile, and Barbarian. $10 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN The Searchers The distinctive jangling sound of the twelve string guitar and the rich harmonies embellishing their immaculate vocals have without doubt assured the Searchers a lasting place in history of popular music throughout the world VIKINGS CLUB, TUGGERANONG saturday february 7

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Carry On Karaoke PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Karaoke From 9-11pm. Cash prizes and 2-4-1 basic spirits and tap beer CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC FRIDAY february 6

ARTS _____________ Arab Poetry Night Various poems from the Arab world will be recited by a group of poets living here in Canberra.

From 7pm. Entry $10 STREET THEATRE, ACTON Baldy Archy Prize Australia's funniest portrait competition is irreverently larrikin, outrageous, sarcastic and satirical. Be amazed and amused! Until Feb 15 (10am4pm daily). Entry $3 WATSON ARTS CENTRE Ameriberia A piano recital by Marcela Fiorillo. On the frontier between the classical and popular music of Latin America and Spain, the Argentinian pianist joins the continents through the music. Beginning 8pm. Tickets $25/$18/$25 LLEWELLYN HALL, ANU The Breeze of Persia This exhibition provides visitors with the opportunity to see and purchase some of the most exciting art work of today's Persia. Until Feb 15 CIVIC LIBRARY, CIVIC SQUARE World Visions at CCAS Featuring the exhibitions Mouse

by Maurice, In (And Against) Time

by Izabela Pluta, and Tales from the Underworld by Tevita Havea.

Until March 14, Tuesdays-Fridays CCAS, GORMAN HOUSE Scribble Keynote Address Featuring Randa Abdel-Fattah as guest speaker. From 5pm BOGONG THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

DANCE _____________ Downtown Brown KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Girl Thing With DJ Tori Mac. Ladies only, free entry and 2-4-1 basic spirits and tap beer until 11pm. From 9pm - 1am CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC UG Beats TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC DJ Cranky (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

ARTS _____________

Six Billion Love A physical theatre piece performed by members of the Canberra Youth Theatre. As part of the Multicultural Fringe Festival. Until February 9 COURTYARD STUDIO, CANBERRA THEATRE Little Girl Lost in the Devil's Black Beard Sit back and immerse yourself in the fantastically beautiful and surreal world of Canberra's newest favourite band Mr. Fibby. With spoken word vocals by local legend Hadley, Mr. Fibby is an experience you won't easily forget!

A rollicking, uplifting tragedy about the deeply depressing adventures of the smallest, loneliest, ugliest girl ever to have lived as she searches for her violin, lost to a most curious black bearded man. Produced

by Jorian Gardner. Until Feb 9.

Entry $15/$12 COURTYARD STUDIO, CANBERRA THEATRE From Pavans to Polkas - 400 Years of Ballroom Traditions The Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academy, the Bordonian Heritage Dancers and the band Earthly Delights host a full day of western European social dance traditions from Renaissance to Victorian. 11am-7pm PETRIE PLAZA, CIVIC Pacific Island Showcase The Pacific Island communities in Canberra include Tonga, Samoa, Aotearoa, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. From 11am-4pm AKUNA STREET, STAGE 3

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7 Drums Under the African Sky Featuring Drum Effects, Phantom Drums, women's drum group Purrcussion, Gus and the African Drum Ensemble, and guest performances by Zawadi Dances from New Jersey and the Africa-Colombian Dancers. From 2-4pm CITY WALK, CIVIC Queen Juanita and the Zydeco Cowboys Queen Juanita and the Zydeco Cowboys is a zydeco swing dance band featuring Queen Juanita on vocals and pion accordion and Dr. Zot on guitar.

This band looks like it's stepped right out of the '50s, with rockabilly fashions, upright bass, hot rhythms and a dangerously danceable attitude. From 4:50pm STAGE 3, CORNER OF AKUNA ST AND CITY WALK Taiwanese Street Performance Acts include a one-man musical band, a creative straw artiste, and a living statue artist. From 2-5pm CITY WALK, CIVIC Rocio Vega (Mexico) Until Feb 9. 7:30pm GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC Zawadi School of African Drum and Dance Until Feb 9. Beginning 2:40pm GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC Colombia: Tierra Colombiana From 7pm PETRIE PLAZA, CIVIC Slovak/Hungarian: Ifju Szivek Until Feb 10. From 2pm GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC Tonga Moteys From 1:45pm AKUNA ST, CIVIC Show Us Your Roots A hilarious, fast-paced poke at multicultural Australia. How the things which appear to differentiate us are invariably the very things that make us the same. Multiculturalism and taking the mickey out of yourself: the two things that make Australia great are the two main ingredients of Show Us Your Roots. Tickets $35. 8pm CANBERRA THEATRE, CIVIC SQUARE

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7 Alanga Ghoza and Andrew Watson In concert with World Music Choirs. Beginning 8pm. $10 ALL SAINTS CHURCH HALL, AINSLIE European Film Festival This film festival opens a window on the diverse and rich cultures of Europe, brought to you by the European Union in Australia, sponsored by Dendy Cinemas, with movies provided

by EU member states. Until Feb 17. Tickets $12/$9 DENDY CINEMAS, CIVIC Your Kids Can't Do This Collectors of the emerging global phenomenon of street and urban art will have an unprecedented opportunity to acquire works by some of the hottest stencil artists around the globe during Canberra's Fringe 09. Until Feb 14 ACT LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY GALLERY, CIVIC SQUARE Canberra Zine Fair From 10am until 5pm GORMAN HOUSE, BRADDON Arc Cinema: Chinatown Polanski's classic LA-noir.

Beginning 7:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE, ACTON

DAY PLAY _____________ Food & Dance Spectacular Taste the world, hear the world and see the world at the Multicultural Festival's iconic event, presented by the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets. 11am-11pm GAREMA PLACE/GLEBE PARK Gorman House Markets GORMAN HOUSE Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE

DANCE _____________ Nathan Frost KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Chrome Chrome corps Salem, Stealth.

Elf and Meta Virus will be laying down some goth industrial darkness for the first Chrome of 2009. Entry is $6. From 9pm HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7 Candy Cube 10pm until 5am. DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Strangeways (DJ Party) TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Dubdeckerbass (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

LIVE _____________ Never See Tomorrow With A Chelsea Smile, Gasma, Elanora Heights and Shotgun Silence. From 8pm TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE Guy Stewart From 10:30pm-2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Music of Joy Music of Joy is a loosley knit band of musicians/classical dancers whose day jobs range from music teaching to dress designing. From 7pm. Free TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE Fire on the Hill THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC The Veil WIth Ironwood, Futility, and Tranquil Deception. Entry $10 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Lamexcuse Joined by good mates Local Resident Failure and Chris Duke and The Royals ANU BAR, ACTON This is Big... (Fringe Festival) With community groups and market stalls. From 6pm, DJ K-rad with DJ Simon provide the glue that sticks Chanel Cole, The Zawadi African Dancers, Abbie Cardwell and Her Leading Men, Tom Woodward's The Orphanage, D'Opus and Roshambo and Casual Projects together. The CYT's Six Billion Love and Mr. Fibby's Little Girl Lost in the Devil's Black Beard also open in the Courtyard Studio CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC The Chuffs Last show ever!

THE POT BELLY, BELCONNEN

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8

ARTS _____________ Opera by Candlelight Canberra's love affair with outdoor opera continues. For more information go to www. operabycandlelight.com STAGE 88, COMMONWEALTH PARK The Greek Glendi Don't miss the Mediterranean experience, celebrating the richenss and diversity of Greek food, music and the arts. From 12-5pm GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC India: Classical Instrumental Music Partha Bose from India is a widely acknowledge sitar player and a much respected artiste in the arena of contemporary Hindustanti Classical Music.

Beginning 7:30pm. $20/$15 THEO NOTARAS MULTICULTURAL CENTRE, CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC

DAY PLAY _____________ Old Bus Depot Markets KINGSTON Tuggeranong Homestead Markets TUGGERANONG HOMESTEAD Cube Sunday From 9pm until late. With DJ Peter Dorree CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

DANCE _____________ Sound Baked Sundays With Spruce Lee (of Club Junque fame), and Staky & Bipicital Groove. Free entry (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

LIVE _____________ Acid Mothers Guru Guru (Japan/Germany) Entry $15 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Sunday Evening Romp (Fringe) Alice Cottee, Sean Smeaton, The Ellis Collective, Omar Musa, DJ Rush and DJ Tori Mac CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC

GIG GUIDE February 8 - 18 monday february 9

wednesday february 11

Thursday february 12

friday febrUary 13

LIVE _____________

DANCE _____________

LIVE _____________

Canberra Musicians Club Night Featuring The Wedded Bliss, Fire on the Hill, The Band Broke Up, Los Chavos and many more!

CIVIC SQUARE

Koushik From the USA's Stones Throw Records. With Jemist TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

Misery Signals With Amity Affliction, Confession and Gasma. 8pm TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE Dommus Adultrus Regular live and local night HIPPO, GAREMA PL, CIVIC Where to Now From 9pm-midnight KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

Moulin Cube With DJ Peter Dorree.

Discounted absinth, free entry and a chance to win tickets to the Mardi Gras if dressed in theme. From 9pm until 5am CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Cheese 80s and retro grooves TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC PurrFect Friday Fashion parade and hip-hop event. Celebrity models include Bronson Harrison, David Shillington, Sam Huihahau and Joel Monaghan. Music by DJ Manny, DJ Naughty, DJ Rush and MC Kiwi G. $3 basic spirits and $3 Extra Drys. Doors open 9pm.

Entry $20 ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Mark Nicholls (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Nikkita MC With Convict and Rhyme Ministers. Doors at 8pm. $10, or $20 including a double CD MERCURY BAR, N'BOURNE AVE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Hospitality Night Come and be hospitable TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trivia in the Trams at the Tradies From 7:15pm TRADIES CLUB, DICKSON tuesday february 10

ARTS _____________ Hot Audio Wallpaper After being acclaimed by critics at Fringe '08, Director Jordan Best brings together a new cast with Centrepiece Theatre for a second showing of Hot Audio Wallpaper. Produced by Jorian Gardner. Until Feb 11 COURTYARD STUDIO, CANBERRA THEATRE The Burlesque Hour Part circus and sideshow, showgirl and show stopper, striptease and cartoon strip, gothic spectacle and mayhem.

Until Feb 14. Tickets $32/$29.

16+ age restrictions THE STREET THEATRE Laugh-o-Rama: The Fringe Comedy Night Hosted by Jay Sullivan and featuring Ray Badran, Brian Chandler, Shane Matheson, Oliver Phommavanh, Smart Casual, Luke MacGregor, Neil Sinclair, Ryan Coffey, Mat Keneally, Tom Gibson, Emo Willis, Kale Bogdanovs, Daniel Connell, Mark Kulasingham, and Herbie and The Coleslaws. Join in the National Hecklers Competition. Live music by The Fuelers.

Theatre in a Car opens for the remainder of the festival CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC

DANCE _____________ Chuse Jazz Tuesdays With Fats Homicide (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Fame Trivia From 7:30-10:30pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia Every Tuesday POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Trivia Night THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ $5 Night Come along and try something new, for $5!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

_____________ LIVE Kyle Cole Band KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Tom Woodard and The Orphanage THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Live in the Spotlight (Fringe) Simone Penkethman album launch. With Dave Graney and the Lurid Yellow Mist and Dubba Rukki, plus surprise performers CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC THURSDAY february 12

ARTS _____________ Arc Cinema: My Winnipeg Cult movie quotation meets travelogue in Canadian director Guy Maddin's delirous homage to both silent cinema, and his hometown. Beginning 7:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE, ACTON Swing It For Me! (Fringe) Dr Stovepipe's Old Time Medicinal Radio Show, with Jacquie Nicole, Minouche A Trois, The Jumptown Jammers, and Jonno Zilber. Dress in your best vintage threads CIVIC SQAURE, CIVIC Everything You Wanted To Know About Burlesque But Were Too Afraid to ask...

A delicious blend of live performance and panel presentations from Imogen Kelly, Fiona Patten, and Professor Jill Matthews. MC'd by The Birdmann, with musical entertainment from Cris Clucas and Lachlan Coventry, and refreshments from The Moveable Feasts. From 7pm. Entry $18 at the door THE COURTYARD STUDIO, CANBERRA THEATRE

DANCE _____________ Trash Thursdays $2 drinks until 2am and discounted cocktails. With DJs Adam and Esscue. Two for one entry with Uni sticker ACADEMY, CIVIC Ashley Feraude KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Pang! Thursdays Featuring The Proxy (Russia) and Thomas Van Party (Canada) TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Bicipital Groove (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Jumptown Swing at the Fringe Join in for free swing dance classes, live music and dancing CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Karaoke From 9-11pm. Cash prizes and 2-4-1 basic spirits and tap beer CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC friday february 13

ARTS _____________ A Stacked Deck The biggest night of burlesque you've ever seen, with live music from Erin Black and the Pageturners, all night on the Fringe stage. Le Petite Sideshow opens also! Woot!

CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC La Petit Sideshow Circus freaks and sideshow alley combines in this special performance of Canberra's own Le Petit Sideshow. Be amazed, enthralled, scared and somewhat grossed out by the antics of this talented, but motley, crew.

Produced by Jorian Gardner.

Until Feb 14 COURTYARD STUDIO, CANBERRA THEATRE Taiwanese Films The Wedding Banquet Directed by Ang Lee. From 8:30pm. Tickets $8 TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE David Tydd's Valentino Feauturing dancers from So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing WIth The Stars. Until Feb 14. This is the story of the man the whole world fell madly in love with. The man who defined what it was to be a Hollywood star, and who introudced Latin dance to the West. 8pm CANBERRA THEATRE, CIVIC SQUARE Ocean to Outback Australian Landscape Paintings 1850-1950. This exhibition documents the most dynamic century of landscape painting from the colonial 1850s to the immediate period following WWII. Over this century, landscape painting was the "great" subject of Australian art, a theme that reflected the changing nature of a nation's identity.

Until May 17 CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY, LONDON CCT

DANCE _____________ Acadamy Fridays With Nick Skitz, Tim Galvin and DJs Adam and Esscue ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Scotty Fisher KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

LIVE _____________ Rev Weekly punk/indie/dance/ electro/alternative night BAR 32, N'THBOURNE AVE, CIVIC Heuristic From 10m-2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Adelle With Pleased to Jive You, Astro Cam and other guests. Entry is $8. Doors at 8pm. Drug and alcohol-free WODEN YOUTH CENTRE Shenanigans 2 With Spoil, Voltera, Gasma, All Guns Blazing and Hollow Point.

Entry $10 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Chris Harland Blues Band From 6-9pm THE SOUL BAR, WODEN saturday february 14

ARTS _____________ Taiwanese Films Pushing Hands Ang Lee's directorial debut.

Beginning 7:30pm. Tickets $8 TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE My Life - My Photo: Diversity Through the Lens Photographic exhibition. From 12-6pm GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC Arc Cinema: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Hilarious musical satire.

Beginning 7:30m NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE, ACTON Arc Cinema: Films for Apology Day #1 A selection of milestone Australian documentaries from the NFSA collection, marking the anniversary of the Official Apology to the Stolen Generation. Beginning 4:30pm NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE, ACTON

saturday february 14

DANCE _____________ Liquid Fest Featuring Gutta Block Boyz, Organised Human Sound, Urban Prophetz, Mad Charlie, Mykaphobic & Kayo, Corporate Takedown, YBO, No Assumption, and Toko Oh No. From 6-10m. All ages. Entry $5 QUEANBEYAN POOL, CRAWFORD ST Academy Carnival: The National Multicultural Festival Afterparty Ross Dewbury (UK), dancers, capoeira, atucada, percussion plus world groove and Latin sets from Ashley Feraude, Frank Madrid, Man About Town, Dwight 'Chocolate' Escobar, Angel and Brujo. 10pm-3am ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC D'Opus KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Candy Cube 10pm until 5am. DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Rather Large DJs With Chairman Wow, Fidel Maestro, Smith, and Adam Wesly TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Tom Tomz (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

LIVE _____________ Athol From 8pm THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW The Cool From 10:30pm-2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Carnival in the City Unleash the Latin inside you at Carnival in the City 2009, as a smorgasbord of Latino sounds, colours and flavours rolls into town. Fabulous music and wonderful dance together with exquisite Latin American cuisine will combine to create the carnival atmosphere traditionally offered by a key event of the National Multicultural Festival.

From 2pm-12am GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC

saturday february 14

Sunday february 15

tuesday february 17

Hoodlum Shouts With Athol THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Chequered Fist EP Launch With Charlie Greaser, AWOL and Space Party. Entry $10 THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN The Fringe Festival Closing Night A massive closing night party including Mr. Fibby, Smitten, and The Snowdroppers. Come during the day for Burlesque workshops!

CIVIC SQUARE, CIVIC

LIVE _____________

DANCE _____________

Fiesta!

An evening celebrating contemporary classical Latin American music. From stunning arrangements of classic tango repertoire to a fusion between the classical concert music and the folk flavour of Latin America, this concert celebrates diversity through excellence. From 5pm STREET THEATRE, ACTON Inappropriate Tough Guy Behavuiour Relentless riffage from two brothers in sonic arms. All ages.

From 3pm. With supports Sparrow Head THE FRONT CAFE, LYNEHAM Kane Welch Kaplin The acclaimed Nashville-based roots/blues/folk/country group featuring legendary singersongwriters Kieran Kane and Kevin Welch, together with acclaimed multi-instrumental and long-time partner Fats Kaplin and Lucas Kane on drums and percussion THE FOLKUS ROOM, MAWSON

The Circus of Horror's Party MOOSEHEADS, CIVIC

ARTS _____________ Valentine's Day For the 29th annual CSO Prom Concert, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra partners with the Embassy of the Czech Republic to commemorate the nation's presidency of the European Union for 2009. From 5pm. Tickets $23 LAWNS OF GOVERNMENT HOUSE

DANCE _____________ Sound Baked Sundays With The Canyons, plus Ashley Feraude, Jemist, Michael O'Rourke, Bipicitial Groove, and Tom Tomz. Free entry (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

DAY PLAY _____________ Tuggeranong Homestead Markets TUGGERANONG HOMESTEAD Sunday BBQs $10 BBQ lunch between 1 and 3pm. Happy hour from 2-4pm and live bands between 2-5pm THE BRADDON CLUB Cube Sunday From 9pm until late. With DJ Peter Dorree CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

monday february 16

DANCE _____________ Mad Monday With DJ Rawson. $5 cocktails, $3 breezers MOOSEHEADS, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Hospitality Night Come and put your moves on a spunky hospitality employee on their night off TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trivia in the Trams at the Tradies From 7:15pm TRADIES CLUB, DICKSON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Fame Trivia THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON wednesday february 18

DANCE _____________ Uni Wednesday MOOSEHEADS, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Mary Coughlan At 52 years of age, Mary Coughlan has a lot to talk about - a life of love, loss, pain and redemption, and how these things have influenced her latest album, The House of Ill Repute THE FOLKUS ROOM, MAWSON Jonno Zilber With Tom Richardson THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Fame Trivia PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Carry-On Karaoke From 9:30pm. $1000 grand prize THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Karaoke Night HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON $5 Night Try something new!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

DVDEVOTEE

Burn After Reading

The David Lynch Collection

New Order: Live in Glasgow

(Universal Home Video)

(Umbrella)

(Warner DVD)

The simple fact of the matter is The Coen Brothers make superb films. Their ability to get out-of-character performances from a range of actors is unequalled. In this one, they get unique performances from Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Tilda Swinton. It’s all about Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), a former FBI agent who is writing his memoirs and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), who really wants a heap of plastic surgery. That’s about it, but the characters that revolve around them make this film a wild pastiche of spy movies with an eye on physical appearances and self-improvement.

There really is no point trying to figure out the work of David Lynch. Those seeking to decipher plot, interpret character motivation or narrative structure and imagery are inevitably doomed to failure. Confused, wordy, undergraduate-styled failure. Indeed, the man himself has made every effort to dissuade academic dissection, claiming he himself has no idea what’s really going on in his films.

So, they’re actually not full of hysterical and frustrating red herrings – they’re simply very unusual stories direct from the inside of the brain cavity of a mild-mannered, well-dressed Montana native. And as a noted exponent of transcendental meditation this is perfectly sensible. Most people find 120 minutes of Lynch pretty difficult going, so imagine their joy in this 5 disc set - 450 minutes of head groaning insanity via the feature-length debut Eraserhead, short films (old and new), behind the scenes footage, errant musings, Lynch at work in his studios and a helluva lot more. But to be fair there are large tracts of a penlight camera observing Mr David sitting at his desk from below in silence, so clearly there is some sort of plot for the hardcore fan. Eraserhead is every bit as unusual as the eerie synopsis would indicate; but more importantly it confirms the emergence of a talented, committed and singular vision. What becomes obvious through this collection, though, is that Lynch is no smoke and mirrors charlatan: he truly believes in what he is creating, and the amazing thing is he is creating art that references, emulates and evolves from a diverse bunch – Goya, Man Ray, Rockwell, Rothko, Dali. It’s pretty hard to pin him down and that’s the beauty of his output.

Even his straightest story, the, err… Straight Story left people scratching their heads. Sadly not included on here is Lynch’s anti-iPhone rant. Although easy to locate, it should be committed to celluloid for prosperity. We live in brutal, ugly, strange times, so it’s no real surprise that most times Lynch is the one making most sense.

With the ongoing furore about New Order’s viability as band in 2009 (bassist Peter Hook has been declaring the pioneering Mancunian outfits demise since November 2006, shortly after the footage aired on the main feature here was shot), this may well end up as something of an epitaph - but is it a fitting one?

The Coen Brothers are so prolific they are bound to release films that don’t always appeal, and while there are criticisms that this one starts a bit slow, there are enough wonderful surprises and character work for any discerning film watcher to enjoy.

With standout performances from all involved (particularly a Lothario George Clooney) this is a great film from my two favourite film-makers.

The cameo role from the divine J.K Simmons as an FBI operative is delightful.

So learn something from this one, or don’t.

Either way, it’s a fucking hoot. In an ideal world every single movie will be produced, directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen.

GEOFF SETTY

JUSTIN HOOK

NEXT ISSUE: WE DISH OUT THE HUGS AS WE CHECK OUT CORINBANK, RESIN DOGS, THE CAT EMPIRE, CSS, JOSH PYKE AND HOT CROSS BUNS. ON TOP OF THAT, WE'LL HAVE A BIG OL' PIECE OF LOVIN' JUST FOR YOU. MMMMMMM!!!!

As it goes, not really. Shot at Glasgow’s Academy venue, it finds the band performing a greatest hits set – including four Joy Division numbers – in what can only be termed reduced circumstances. Sure, the crowd is at full capacity and sings along loudly to every word, but the Academy is simply too small a venue to readily accommodate the stadium indie sound that NO spent the best part of three decades creating, which leaves the video looking a little cheap and ragged around the edges - which surely wasn’t the intention of any of the parties involved.

Still, the music’s good, right? Well, yes, of course. And the dancier numbers of the bands oeuvre fare best in the intimate environs of the Academy; Bizarre Love Triangle in particular sounds impassioned and committed, whilst newer material like Krafty and Waiting for the Sirens Call also have a good go at showing younger acolytes how it’s done. Of the ‘classics’, let’s just say that years of performance seem to have taken their toll on the band’s enthusiasm for some, especially Bernard Sumner, who really looks like he’d rather be elsewhere anywhere, actually - on the likes of Temptation and Blue Monday.

Indeed, this would appear to be the problem at the root of the New Order schism. In interview snippets which intersperse the live footage, Peter Hook bemoans the fact that the rest of the band don’t enjoy touring - or indeed playing the band’s rockier material - anymore, and there is a certain weariness in performance that won’t fail to dampen your enjoyment of the Glasgow set featured. Maybe a trip to the bonus disc, which features rare and unseen footage from throughout the band’s career, would be the better option, I thought. And I was right. Wait till this comes on the telly.

SCOTT ADAMS