Patricia Piccinini's otherworldly pieces have popped up all across Australia, and now it's the TarraWarra Museum of Art's turn to host. The not-for-profit public art gallery has announced an almost four-month-long showcase of the artist's efforts from November this year — including the return of her unmissable installation work The Skywhale. The 34-metre-long, animal-shaped hot air balloon will float through the sky in the lead up to the exhibition's opening, so keep an eye out. Called Patricia Piccinini and Joy Hester: Through love…, the exhibition will display from November 24, 2018 to March 11, 2019. It'll not only focus on the woman with an incredibly distinctive view on all things weird and wonderful — and on the thin line between humanity and animal kind that's engrained in her creative portfolio — but on fellow Australian artist Joy Hester. If the latter's name doesn't sound familiar, she was a Melbourne artist who passed away in 1960, favoured brushwork and ink on paper, and is considered one of Piccinini's key influences. This'll be the first time anywhere in the world that a gallery has explored the connection between the pair, with more than 50 pieces on display. With the showcase broadly focused around the theme of love and intimacy as well, visitors will get to see the evolution of Aussie art through the output of the two inimitable figures, with Hester's ink and paper works considered touchstones for Piccinini's sculptures, photographs, videos and drawings. In both camps, attendees will be treated to something either rare or brand new. Much of Hester's work is rarely seen, though her famous couple-focused series Love 1949 and Lovers 1955–56 will be on display. As for Piccinini, she'll be represented by both new and existing large-scale pieces. Piccinini will also unveil a major new work, Sanctuary, at this exhibition. The work is comprised of a wall print, a graphite on paper drawing and, the focal point, a sculpture of two figures embracing. The elderly couple depict characteristics of both humans and bonobos — an endangered ape species known for its intimate relationships. Through this work, Piccinini is exploring human relationships with animals, environment and technology. Images: Rick Liston, Installation view of Patricia Piccinini, Kindred, 2018; Rick Liston, Installation view of Patricia Piccinini, The Lovers, 2011; Rick Liston, Installation view of Patricia Piccinini, The Young Family, 2002; Rick Liston, Installation view of Patricia Piccinini, Sanctuary, 2018; Rick Liston, View of artwork flying in Yarra Valley on November 24, 2018, Patricia Piccinini, Skywhale, 2013; Rick Liston, Installation view of Patricia Piccinini, The Young Family, 2002. All images courtesy of the artist, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney For more spring places, spaces and events to discover in regional Victoria visit Your Happy Space.
There's something unwaveringly, undeniably appealing about French cinema. Whether you're hooked on the industry's characteristically stunning cinematography, rawness of storyline, or you simply prefer watching films in a language other than English, French films continue to prove some of the world's most captivating. Haven't watched much French cinema? Lucky for you, and hardcore Francophiles, the annual Alliance Française French Film Festival is just around the corner, starting in Sydney on March 7 with a strong 45-film lineup. While you're waiting for the festival to begin, whet your appetite with a few older releases you might have missed from the last year or so. All five of these films capture stories that are often ignored in mainstream media and will make you cry, laugh, and reflect. BANDE DE FILLES (GIRLHOOD) Set in the banlieues (suburbs) of Paris, Céline Sciamma's Girlhood follows Marieme (Karidja Touré), a teenager who drops out of school and joins a badass crew of fellow young, black, female dropouts. A beautiful celebration of black femininity and female friendship, this award-winning coming-of-age story screened at Cannes in 2014, then received four nominations at the 40th César Awards, including Best Director for Sciamma and Most Promising Actress for Touré. Available to stream on Stan, to rent on Dendy Direct, Quickflix, Google Play and Microsoft. QUAND ON A 17 ANS (BEING 17) This touching story by André Téchiné and co-writer Céline Sciamma explores the sexual awakening between two French teenagers who, on the surface, couldn't be more different. The relationship between Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein) and Thomas (Corentin Fila) is intimately-observed and full of a raw electricity that you can almost feel through the screen — making its Golden Bear nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival a no-brainer. Pack your Kleenex for this one. No streaming available now, rent on iTunes, Microsoft, Google Play and Pathe. DHEEPAN This timely film by revered director Jacques Audiard tells the story of three Sri Lankan refugees who pose as a family to receive asylum in France. Its title character (played by Antonythasan Jesuthasan) is a former Tamil militant who hopes to build a new life and forget the horrors of his past. Awarded the Cannes Palme d'Or in 2015, the film is a compelling snapshot of the contemporary immigrant experience in Europe. Available to stream on Stan and Foxtel Play, to rent on Dendy Direct, Quickflix, Google Play, PlayStation and Microsoft. DIVINES The winner of the 2016 Cannes Camera d'Or, Houda Benyamina's directorial debut is an exhilarating drama that centres on the intense friendship between two young women, Dounia (Oulaya Amamra) and Maimouna (Déborah Lukumuena). Confronted by their limited prospects in the outskirts of Paris, the pair soon fall into drug dealing, attracted by the opportunity to make a quick buck. Oscillating gracefully between moments of sheer joy and pain, this powerful social commentary is packed with memorable scenes. Prepare yourself for the gut-wrenching, if somewhat over the top, ending. Available to stream on Netflix. LA BELLE SAISON (SUMMERTIME) Set in the 1970s, this stirring love story between farm girl Delphine (Izia Higelin) and radical feminist Carole (Cecile De France) is an ode to self-liberation and discovery. On a whim, 24-year old Delphine decides to leave her rural town and move to Paris, where she meets — and falls in love with — Carole, a Spanish literature professor and feminist activist. Directed by Catherine Corsini, the film skilfully captures the complexities of navigating individual desires with familial and societal expectations. If you've seen a streaming/renting option let us know, otherwise buy from Palace Cinemas' shop. Watch them all before the Alliance French Film Festival kicks off. Want to win tickets?
It's one of the most recognisable spots in Melbourne — and, until December this year at least, Federation Square has been granted temporary heritage protection. If the interim move is extended, it also could thwart one of the city's most controversial new projects: Apple's plans to build its first Australian flagship store. Courtesy of an interim protection order issued on August 21, no work can take place on the site until December 21 without Heritage Victoria's approval. Given that construction on the Apple store wasn't slated to start until next year, the move won't have a significant impact at present. That said, The Age reports that the order is being taken as a sign that permanent heritage protection could be sought for the inner-city space, despite the fact that it's only 16 years old. Giving Fed Square ongoing heritage status would obviously have wider-reaching consequences — including when it comes to pulling down existing buildings. After being announced late last year, Apple's proposed Fed Square store has received considerable community backlash, with new designs revealed in July in response. The opposition to the store isn't just about how it looks, though, but the fact that it'll tear down and replace the existing Yarra Building, and also displace the Koorie Heritage Trust in the process. Contentiously, it'll also see public land sold off to a commercial retailer. Regardless of how Fed Square's permanent heritage status pans out — and if indeed it has any impact upon the Apple store — the current temporary order could slightly stall the other big change taking place in the vicinity, the Metro Tunnel. Fed Square's visitor centre is set to be demolished to build an entry to the tunnel, with work due to begin next month. To proceed according to schedule, contractor Cross Yarra Partnership will need to apply for a permit or exemption to go ahead — something it is expected to do this week, according to the Herald Sun. Via The Age / Herald Sun.
Much has changed at Portside Wharf over its almost two-decade existence to date, but Byblós Brisbane has remained a constant. One of the River City's go-tos for Lebanese cuisine has been a mainstay of the waterside Hamilton precinct, whether you're keen on a meal or drinks. When it opened in 2006, it was also the first-ever eatery from brothers Adonis and Nehme Ghanem, the pair behind hospitality outfit — and the Bisou Bisou-, Iris Rooftop-, Blackbird Bar, Dining and Events-, Boom Boom Room-, Donna Chang- and Lúc Lắc-running — Ghanem Group. As new venues make their home at Portside, Byblós is remaining in place, but it's now sporting a revamped aesthetic and refreshed menu. As announced earlier in spring, the restaurant has undergone a renovation, and is now back up and running in its new redesigned guise just in time for summer party season. When a massive makeover was announced for Portside Wharf back in 2022, Brisbanites started getting excited about more dining options, new eateries and expanded outdoor seating — and since 2023, seafood restaurant Fosh, pastry haven Rise Bakery, ice cream spot Rosé Gelateria, grilled-skewer chain Birds Nest Yakitori, gastropub Portside Social, sports bar The Ballpark Portside and the burger-slinging Dumbo have all opened their doors already. The new-look Byblós joins them, 18 years after it first launched its Hamilton digs. Patrons will now find a new focus on contemporary Lebanese cuisine, plus a reimagined design. Indoors, expect an open dining and bar area, complete with dining booths and private nooks. If you're keen to eat and drink outside, you can now step through bi-fold glass sliding doors to the plant-filled waterside al fresco space, which has also been expanded and weather-proofed. Space Cubed Design Studio was on design duties, aiming to nod to Lebanese cuisine's past and present, including by incorporating tiles handcrafted in the venue's namesake city. Food-wise, patrons can tuck into a sharing-friendly menu influenced by a 2023 research trip to Lebanon, plus a new drinks range featuring cocktails such as Lebanese Lemonade (vodka, a whole lemon, mint, arak and maraschino) and Phoenician Sunset (Licor 43, strawberry liqueur, apple and strawberry), a hefty array of spirits and a wine cellar filled with drops from around the world. "What blew us away on our trip were the intense flavours — layers of aromatic spice, fresh herbs and smoky notes from the grill — and the food heritage that the locals are so proud of. Every meal took us on a journey," advises Ghanem Group Executive Chef Jake Nicolson. "We've added our own refined interpretation to classic dishes and will take guests on a culinary adventure of our own, not just through the food, but also through the interior design that includes culturally significant elements that hark back to the history of the ancient city of Byblós." New highlights span salmon kibbeh nayeh (which is made with raw salmon, burghal, cucumber, fresh mint, red onion and fresh saj) and eggplant fatteh (fried eggplant, cow's milk yogurt, fresh mint and toasted flatbread) among the small plates. Yes, the fan-favourite rakakat, aka fried filo pastries stuffed with mozzarella, feta, parsley and onion, remains on offer. For something more substantial, the wagyu skewers feature pomegranate, pickled red onion, wild thyme and chimichurri; the Brisbane Valley quail comes with orange blossom honey, sumac and parsley, as well as pine nuts and currants; and the slow-cooked lamb shoulder is paired with mixed nuts, currants and jus. Baklava cheesecake and Turkish delight pavlova are dessert standouts — and if you can't pick what to eat, that's where the banquet menu comes in. Find Byblós Brisbane at Portside Wharf, 39 Hercules Street, Hamilton, open 11.30am–late Tuesday–Sunday. Head to the venue's website for more details.
If you’re going to cryogenically freeze yourself, you might as well do it properly. None of this half-hearted Disney, Fry or Ted Williams jazz – if you’re going to enter the life-lengthening chill, then make sure you return with a bang, Vaudeville style. Vaudeville duo Kitty Witless and Dr. Dan Von Dandy were buried in an avalanche in the 1920s while touring in Antarctica. Now, thanks to Tony PM, global warming has thawed them out and they're back — hotter than ever! From musical numbers, to witty banter, this duo are bringing back the swing of the '20s to the Brisbane Powerhouse. With ragtime sounds, and toe-tappin' tunes you’ll be hard-pressed sitting still in your seat with the Vaudevillians working the stage. This stage show stars RuPauls Drag Race reigning queen Jinkx Monsoon in her Australia debut, and co-stars Major Scales. Make a night of The Vaudevillians, and take advantage of these post-prohibition years with some pre-prohibition tunes.
There's no swapping faces in John Woo's latest English-language action-thriller. Instead, the iconic Hong Kong filmmaker brings guns, chases and a quest for revenge to the festive genre. As anyone who rightly considers Die Hard among the pinnacle of Christmas movies already knows, seasonal cinema offerings don't need to drip in schmaltz, holiday humour, or Santas and reindeers to be an end-of-year present. Still, in making his first Hollywood effort since 2003's Paycheck, the director behind Hard Target, Broken Arrow and Face/Off in the 90s — plus Mission: Impossible II in 2000 — keeps the ties of family gleaming in Silent Night. That said, from the moment that the picture opens with a man in a Rudolph-adorned jumper, fuzzy red pom-pom and all, in a battle on Texan back streets with gang members who've just torn his brood apart on Christmas Eve, Woo also goes the brutal route. Silent Night's name echoes in several ways. Recalling a tune that's all about the jolliest time of the year is just one. Setting scenes in a period when halls are decked with boughs of holly is merely another. If protagonist Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman, The Suicide Squad) gets his wish, there'll be no more noise — let alone violence and bloodshed — from the criminals responsible for killing his young son (Alex Briseño, A Million Miles Away) with a stray bullet from drive-by crossfire as the boy rode his new bike in the front yard. Woo's main stylistic conceit comes to fruition instantly, however, because Silent Night largely avoids dialogue. Aided by meticulous sound design, that choice isn't a gimmick purely for the sake of it. Rather, Robert Archer Lynn's (Already Dead) script has Brian lose the ability to speak in the introductory sequence's fallout. The film's propulsive arrival is all frenzy, mayhem and intensity as Brian runs, cars packed with armed men blasting with abandon can't fell him, but being shot in the throat by villainous head thug Playa (Harold Torres, Memory) heralds blackness. If there's any doubt that Woo is enjoying staging the chaos, his use of slow motion says plenty. So does spotting a red balloon drifting away. Elsewhere, while the filmmaker mightn't work in his trademark doves, a bird does flutter. With cinematographer Sharone Meir (Echo 3) doing the lensing, Silent Night realises that stripping out chatter means heightening the visual experience, whether the picture is in frenetic or plotting mode. But there's also an earnestness to the movie and its aesthetics; this is a grim and bloody Christmas flick, and it's well-aware in every inch. As Brian prepares for his vengeance mission in training montages, then endeavours to execute his plan, an emotional underpinning anchors Silent Night's almost total lack of words (text on-screen features via SMS messages, and the radio still blares), too. He's a man robbed of the ability to verbally process his trauma. He can't shout, swear, scream or cry out. There'll never be any catharsis from just uttering his feelings aloud to a kindly listener. So, he's driven to act. As played with expressive physicality by Kinnaman, he's obsessively haunted into doing the only thing that he thinks he can — even if it means that his marriage to the also-mourning Saya (Catalina Sandino Moreno, From) suffers, and regardless of police detective Dennis Vassell's (Scott Mescudi, Crater) request for his assistance to lawfully bring the culprits to justice. There's a full-circle touch to Silent Night's disdain for talking as well, given how stellar the clearly Woo-influenced John Wick films have proven by also letting actions say far more than words, albeit never to this degree. Before that, it was the similarly Keanu Reeves-led The Matrix movies that help cement Woo's brand of stylised imagery as a Tinseltown standard, as far too many imitators have continued to ape ever since. Although Woo has kept adding to his resume over the past two decades, thanks to two-part war epic Red Cliff, wuxia effort Reign of Assassins, the also-split The Crossing and action-thriller Manhunt, he makes his Hollywood comeback with passion. In its look and feel, Silent Night is a work of relish — and, in its staircase sequence alone, a reminder of what American cinema has missed while it has been content taking Woo's cues over boasting him behind the camera. The filmmaker, his flair and his knack for eschewing words have it, then — plus the committed Kinnaman and Moreno — more than the plot, no matter how well-grounded in Brian's situation it proves. Death Wish, Taken and their own mimics have mined dads dishing out retaliation before, after all. Indeed, as fellow 2023 release Retribution demonstrates, Liam Neeson has resided comfortably in the "father in a fray for his family" niche ever since busting out his particular set of skills 15 years back. Silent Night isn't here to hold up Brian as a hero gleaming as brightly as a star on a Christmas tree, though. In other hands, that might've been the vibe, but there's no doubting that he's unravelling in desperate pain as he fixates upon his vigilante rampage. Marco Beltrami's (Renfield) score has it, too: this is an action-melodrama as much as an action-thriller. Woo hasn't just switched conversation for an onslaught of operatic sights and grunting, crunching sound effects — amid the kinetic altercations, of which there's many, he also lingers on his cast to see what's getting his characters ticking, pondering, yearning, hurting and swirling. This film spies in silence what wouldn't be done justice in dialogue, with feelings simmering and steaming in looks and gestures. Silent Night's action choreography impresses, unsurprisingly, but so does its emotional dance. Pass the Parcel might be a birthday-party game rather than a Christmas one, but it sums up this movie: each layer offers a gift, some expected, some exquisite.
About halfway between Townsville and Cairns — and on the way up to Cape Trib — is the Mission Beach area. There are a number of council-run campgrounds and caravan parks here, but head straight to Kurrimine Beach for a prime beachfront posi. This site is pretty well set up — powered sites with access to a laundry, hot showers and toilets are available along with some unpowered sites in peak season. You can't book, so turn up early in the day and hope for the best. Image: Matt Glastonbury via Tourism and Events Queensland
As part of the Belfast Festival, Northern Ireland’s capital city is currently playing host to WISH, a public art project by Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada. Already nicknamed by local residents as 'The Face from Space', the portrait of an anonymous Belfast girl is so enormous at its 11-acres that it can only be viewed from an aeroplane (or from a mountaintop). It was first plotted on a grid using some very swish technology and 30,000 manually placed wooden stakes. After that volunteers spent a month helping to 'draw' the portrait using nearly 8 million pounds of soil, sand and rock. Now that's patience. Rodríguez-Gerada is known for his giant-scaled portraits in public spaces. In a statement, he says of WISH, "Working at very large scales becomes a personal challenge but it also allows me to bring attention to important social issues; the size of the piece is intrinsic to the value of its message. Creativity is always applied in order to define an intervention made only with local materials, with no environmental impact, that works in harmony with the location." Via Colossal.
After two years of hiding in self-determined obscurity, New Zealand’s Cut Off Your Hands are back, and they’ve aged well. During their hiatus they’ve been drawing inspiration from the likes of The Go-Betweens to The Triffids and The Church, and their latest effort Hollow is a matured redefinition of the power pop/post-punk sound that defined the Kiwi band on their 2008 debut of You and I. They’ve been hailed by hipster tastemakers NME as ‘the next Blur, only better’ – and if you don’t believe NME, download their newest single You Should Do Better (it’s free, and totes legal) and hear for yourself – the proof is in the charming riffs! Cut Off Your Hands’ comeback this year is set to be a big one, taking out a coveted slot in this year’s Splendour in the Grass lineup. But before they take on Woodfordia, they’re coming to Lambda. Get a taste of Hollow before its official release in July, see them this Thursday! Image credit: Elizabeth Weinberg
Haven't seen The Last Jedi yet? Been waiting until the Boxing Day rush dies down to see the last batch of 2017 flicks? If so, and you're a Melburnian headed to a Village Cinema, you might want to keep an eye on ticket prices. During the summer holidays, the cinema chain is trialling dynamic pricing at selected sites. In other words: if you go during peak times, you'll pay more for the privilege. As first reported on Reddit, after 5pm on Fridays and Saturdays, customers can expect to spend between 50 cents and $1 more to watch whichever feature takes their fancy, and to see candy bar costs rise by between 30 cents and $1 per item. Yes, it's the same concept that Uber users hate during busy periods, now showing at multiplexes including Crown, Fountain Gate, Doncaster, Jam Factory, Southland and Werribee. The idea of variable movie ticket prices isn't new — student discounts, cheap Tuesdays and the like — but charging more during peak cinema-going slots isn't going to be well-received given that Aussie ticket costs rose 31 percent in the decade to 2016. Interestingly enough, while Village Cinemas is ramping things up in popular periods, it's not decreasing them for slow sessions and times. It might be school holidays, but we're guessing that some titles on their schedule aren't selling out to weekday morning crowds, particularly if they're not aimed at kids. In 2017, an app called Choovie proposed the same concept, calling themselves "Uber for movies" and offering up bargains in quiet spots. It currently features deals at selected times in selected locations, all for less than the regular multiplex ticket prices. Going to the cinema hasn't died out as many have predicted over the years, and isn't likely to. The thrill of seeing a new film on a big screen in a darkened room with (hopefully) no distractions is something that your huge TV and Netflix just can't beat, and nor can piracy. Still, with Aussie attendance in decline, charging viewers more for seeing a flick at times when most people like to go to the movies is up there with the rumour that Apple would introduce a 'theatre mode' option for mid-movie texting — that is, it's a downright terrible idea. Via news.com.au
Pare back the impressive special effects and constant wisecracking in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and you soon come to realise...there's not a great deal of story to speak of. After a lifetime of searching, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) finally finds himself face to face with his estranged father, Ego (Kurt Russell), from whom he quickly learns the truth about both the power and importance of his lineage. The question, though, is what's driving Ego's sudden appearance in Quill's life after such a long absence? Beyond that, there's actually very little going on in the film, aside from an entirely superfluous secondary plot involving a genetically-engineered race of conceited aliens (led by a gilded Elizabeth Debicki) who are hell-bent on killing the Guardians over a tiny spat from the opening scene. In the absence of plot, then, what drives this film and keeps it (for the most part) engaging are the relationships. For Quill, that means both a developing closeness with his father and an ongoing attempt to progress what he terms his 'unspoken thing' with the green-skinned warrior Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Gamora, in turn, is preoccupied with the increasingly complex and fractious relationship she has with her vengeful sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) – by far the movie's most compelling and nuanced dynamic. Close behind that comes the foul-mouthed Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), whose proclivity for sabotaging friendships and avoiding emotional closeness comes under the microscope in a surprisingly tender way. Less moving, but always entertaining, are the two remaining Guardians: Drax, the forever-literal powerhouse (Dave Bautista) and Groot, the tree creature turned sapling (voiced by Vin Diesel). Groot proved a fan favourite in the first Guardians film, so naturally he has a bigger role here. With those enlarged Disney ™ eyes and a propensity for dancing at inopportune moments, Groot represents at once the film's most consistent comedic device and tweaker of heart strings. To say his merchandise will sell well after the film's release might prove the single largest understatement of 2017. Of course, a review of a Guardians movie wouldn't be complete without mentioning its soundtrack. As in the first film, here we find a compilation of '80s tracks that well and truly earns the 'Awesome Mix Tape' tag. 'Mr. Blue Sky' by ELO, 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac and 'Surrender' by Cheap Trick are just some of the album's top-to-bottom highlights, used throughout the movie with such design that it's almost a character unto itself. Then there's Cat Stevens' 'Father and Son'. Already one of last century's most moving ballads, its deployment in the final stages of the film hits you in the feels so hard that you stand zero chance of wrenching your tear ducts shut in time. Admittedly, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 feels less innovative than its predecessor, with writer-director James Gunn mostly expanding upon existing plot lines, jokes and action sequences rather than inventing new ones. Still, it's an enjoyable ride, and there's clearly more to come (be sure to stay through to the end of the credits through which you'll catch a full five additional scenes and teasers). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hdv_6gl4gk
Spanish feasts are on the menu at Burnett Lane's newest restaurant — and it's serving up dishes all day long. El Matador serves Iberian-inspired breakfasts, plenty of tapas for lunch, dinner and everything in-between. And all come with drinks, naturally. Drop by first thing for Spanish tortillas with cheese and onion crisps; corn fritters paired with wood-roasted cherry tomatoes and smashed avocado; and coal-smoked king fish topped with shaved San Simon smoked cheese. If you're looking for something sweeter, you'll find house-baked traditional Spanish breads and pastries, such as traditional shortbread and chocolate and cinnamon meringues. Cava-filled bloody marys with paprika are also on the morning lineup, should you need something stronger than a coffee. For those heading along later in the day, expect a huge range of bite-sized selections — there's a sizeable tapas and pintxos menu, which spans everything from four types of shellfish with salmorejo, alioli and lemon; to sticky pork ribs with smoked paprika; three-cheese tarts with baby figs and honey; and Spanish favourite patatas bravas. Larger meals are also on offer, including a lamb shoulder that's smoked overnight and served with preserved lemon, sherry and rosemary, plus half a confit suckling pig that you have to order 24 hours in advance. With the bar designed around an open kitchen, jamón and other cured meats from the humidor are also a highlight, as well as six types of Spanish cheese. As for drinks, you can tuck into one of three sangria jugs to share, pick from classic cocktails, or opt for an array of Spanish, local and international wines and beers. Decked out with booths and banquettes, and capable of welcoming 80 patrons at once, El Matador is the latest venture from Leo Castelluccio, who's known from Melbourne venues Cato, Graffiti Club and Bakers Gallery. He's planning to further his expansion into Brisbane, too, with a cocktail and karaoke bar in the works directly across the lane.
Why did the fried chicken fan cross Hawken Drive? To eat all the greasy chook they could handle, of course. What might sound like a groan-worthy joke has actually been happening in St Lucia thanks to KaiKai Chicken and its popular fried chicken buffet. And, when COVID-19 restrictions on Queensland eateries start lifting at 11.59pm on Friday, May 15, it'll be happening again straight away. The second that KaiKai can reopen its doors to dine-in patrons, it's going to do just that, all by serving up a midnight chook feast. Head on in between 11.59am on Friday, May 15 and 3am on Saturday, May 16 — i.e. a chicken-filled three-hour window — and you'll find an all-you-can-eat selection awaiting, starting at $19.90 for students and $22.90 otherwise. That'll nab you a standard buffet, so prepare to solve the eternal dilemma faced by hungry chook fiends everywhere — aka whether to have one finger lickin' good piece, several, or more than anyone should actually admit to. On offer is an endless array of poultry in multiple different flavours, plus sides, as well as what'll probably be your first nocturnal outing in months. Flocking customers are required to book to get their chicken fix, given that only ten people will be allowed inside at once. So, before you jump into the coop, make sure you contact the restaurant. Images: KaiKai Chicken.
There is something rather charming about a small bar that rides solo, goes out on its own, takes a risk and has it pay off. We've gathered a list of the top ten bars out in the suburbs, and we're not talking New Farm or Newstead, Caxton Street or West End. We're talking about bars out on their lonesome where others bars dare not to venture. They are the pioneers of cool in their home suburbs, and they are making locals proud to call the area home. Canvas, Woolloongabba Set in Woolloongabba's trendy antique precinct, Canvas's arty appeal suits the neighbourhood perfectly. The heritage building's original boarded ceiling is still in tact, while the walls are covered in murals by local artists and the floors decorated with old fringed lamps. The small bar is filled with shabby chic chairs and Chesterfield lounges, and out the back is a courtyard ready for a small party. It's a place to come for a quiet drink, and believe me the new cocktail menu is worth crossing the river for. 16 Logan Road, Woolloongabba Junk Bar, Ashgrove Much like the name suggests, Junk Bar is filled with a mishmash of prize-worthy junk store finds, including leather and velour couches, old yet loveable lampshades and mounted deer heads. It’s cosy and eclectic with a strong '70s tiki influence. The kind of place where a paisley-shirted gentleman with a Magnum, PI moustache would blend in nicely. Den-style decor aside, Junk Bar’s main focus is on your drink, offering intimate table service and fresh cocktail concoctions. 215 Waterworks Road, Ashgrove The Scratch, Milton The Scratch's motto is "No pretension, no dress code and no pub cover bands". The small bar is a cosy, chilled, shabby-chic addition to Milton's wining 'n' dining Park Road precinct, an area once better known for metre-long pizzas, espressos and relatively diminutive Eiffel towers. However, the self-proclaimed dive bar that is The Scratch has helped bring a younger, no-nonsense crowd back to the strip. It is the antithesis of almost anything else nearby, especially the brewery. The Scratch eschews typical brewery/brand relationships (i.e. the same old bland major-chain beer taps you find in, like, every pub) for a constant rotation of their tap beers every few days — all of them flavoursome craft varieties. It is also BYO food. 8/1 Park Road, Milton Southside Tea Room, Morningside Opened by members of Brisbane band The Grates, this Southside-and-proud watering hole is knowingly kitsch when it comes to decor, with strings of fake flowers, embossed wood-effect wallpaper and mismatched chairs. The bar features occasional live music, as well as games nights and Takeout Thursday (where customers are invited to bring their own takeaway). Snacks are on hand, as are pizzas, and the drinks list includes some interesting beers. 639 Wynnum Road, Brisbane Lucky Duck, Highgate Hill Perched up in Highgate Hill, Lucky Duck have rolled the dice and are going quacky with the theme. Upon first glance, Lucky Duck could be like many other bar/cafes – lots of wood, bench seating, mason jars for light fittings and plants hanging from ceiling – but the closer you look, the more ducks start to appear. From the knick-knacks here, there and everywhere, to the collection of street art lining the walls, Lucky Duck fits the bill. Lucky Duck have The Hills Cider Co on tap along with a range of craft beer. If you pop by during happy hour, pick up a jug for just $12. 15 Gladstone Road, Highgate Hill Toro, Auchenflower Like its sister, Deer Duck Bistro, Toro Bar is an unexpected cell of old-world glamour on Milton Road, Auchenflower. The Prohibition-era speakeasy vibe of this cosy little nook is complemented by live music on a Friday and Saturday nights, a tasty bar menu and a well-stocked bar. Taxidermy, assorted antique furniture, tasseled lampshades and a mirrored ceiling complete the atmosphere. Sundays are the day to visit for amazing drink specials. 416 Milton Road, Auchenflower The Walrus Club, Toowong The Regatta is nothing like we once knew it. Ten dollar jugs and student Wednesdays are but a distant memory, silent discos in The Boat Shed are no more, and now we venue beneath the ground to drink. Go round the back to the servants entrance, down the stairs and below the grand old pub. Here you’ll find the lair/rum den they call The Walrus Club. Think leather chesterfield couches, a raw brick maze of rooms, free spiced popcorn and melting candles everywhere. 543 Coronation Drive, Toowong Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point With Coopers on tap, RSL alcohol prices, some of the nation’s best talent passing through and a deck with views of the CBD, the Brisbane Jazz Club is not one to be overlooked. For something a little different, stop by for a gig, a jig and some river views. They do dinner and nibbles too, and it’s only a free CityHopper ride from the city. 1 Annie Street, Kangaroo Point Byblos, Hamilton Set right on the river, Byblos is where the north-easterners flock on a Sunday afternoon. With live music in one corner, drink prices that are easy on the pocket and now Eat Street around the corner open Sundays 11am-7pm, you don’t have to be a northsider to want to join the fun. Byblos also offers a great mediterranean-inspired tapas menu to keep you happy. Portside Wharf, Hamilton Room 60, Kelvin Grove Located in buzzing Kelvin Grove's Queensland University of Technology creative precinct, Room 60 is a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of student life. The intimate space emits a cosy and comfortable feeling achieved by the dark hue of the walls and friendly faces behind the bar. Low hanging lights, stacks of vinyl records and mis-matched furniture ooze a vibe of mature coolness, making it a perfect setting for drinks or a light meal. The bar contains a raised stage enabling it to host regular events such as talks, music and public readings. 22 Carraway Street, Kelvin Grove
Almost everything these days might be about apps, VR and AI, but sometimes some fair dinkum woodworking classes are what you need to bring you back to IRL. One of Brisbane's favourite woodworking studios, Makeit with Carbatec, offers outright beginners the chance to get stuck in, find your inner craftsperson and leave with something to show off. Over four hours, the seasoned and passionate Makeit instructors will guide you through crafting your piece in the safest way possible — and ensure it's as awesome as possible. You can choose from a number of products to carve, including a serving platter, pepper grinder, table centrepiece, stool, spoon or shelf. Whatever you decide, your newly created piece will make a thoughtful gift or a crafty, rustic addition to your home. There are multiple dates to choose from, with the next crafty workshop taking place on Tuesday, January 16. It may be the digital age, but that's no reason not to discover how handy you are with a hammer and chisel. To see the full schedule and book a class, head here.
If you're feeling a little more adventurous this New Years Eve, hop over the Tasman to New Zealand for the Rhythm and Vines festival. Stretching over the last three days of December, Rhythm and Vines helps you welcome the new year with one of the biggest line-ups to grace the festival circuit in 2011, as well as Concrete Playground's own Pool Party. This instalment is headlined by Australia's biggest drum and bass export, Pendulum, whilst Calvin Harris brings his incredibly infectious sound to eager audiences. For the old-school demographic, DJ Grandmaster Flash will provide a great history lesson in hip-hop with his set. Don't miss out on an opportunity to see this undisputed legend working in an element that he was primarily responsible for. More bass will be provided by Skream and Benga, two dubstep pioneers who have developed a distinct, global sound from their modest beginnings in English warehouses. Other festival favourites such as Erick Morillo, Tiga and Architecture in Helsinki will also be in attendance. Accomodation ranges from rental houses to motel rooms to camping spots, so there's plenty of options to help mould your perfect festival bender experience. Courtesy of our friends at Stolen Rum, Concrete Playground has a double-pass three-day Club Stolen VIP Package up for grabs. What does the VIP Package offer? It will include an exclusive area with an uninterrupted view of the main stage, treated to delicious Stolen Rum cocktails throughout the night. Importantly, you'll also get access to toilets with actual flushes, and anybody who has been to a festival will know that this is truly a Godsend. To win this double VIP pass to Rhythm and Vines, make sure you are subscribed to Concrete Playground then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au (for Australia) or auckland@concreteplayground.co.nz (for New Zealand) by 5pm on Thursday 15 December, 2011. The winner will be notified by email soon after, and will be responsible for own transport and accommodation arrangements.
Two sets of unsavoury characters meet in a Boston warehouse in the dead of night to exchange a suitcase full of money for a truck full of guns. It should be a simple swap, but inevitably the deal goes pear-shaped and bullets begin to fly. As premises go, the one at the heart of Free Fire could hardly be any simpler. But it's that simplicity, in part, that makes this pitch-black action comedy work as well as it does. Taking the glamour, if not the glee, out of violent big-screen gun battles, Free Fire draws more on slapstick comedies than it does Hollywood shoot 'em ups. No one here is a particularly good shot, with the characters spending the bulk of their time huddled behind makeshift barriers nursing flesh wounds and screaming obscenities. Every injury is another punch line, as foot chases slow to a stumble and eventually a crawl. At times, you may wish director Ben Wheatley did a better job maintaining a sense of visual geography – it's not always clear which character is where or who it is they're shooting at. Then again, the film is fundamentally about confusion, so perhaps that's the point. A percussion heavy jazz score accentuates the sense of chaos, while driving home the fact that the shooters are making things up as they go. But more important than being able to keep track of who did the shooting is whether you actually care about the people getting shot. The script is a little thin when it comes to character development, but a strong cast helps flesh out what's on the page. Armie Hammer as a smooth talking sales rep, Brie Larson as an inscrutable mediator, Cillian Murphy as a soulful IRA lieutenant and Michael Smiley as his uptight comrade lead an ensemble that also includes Sam Riley, Jack Reynor and Noah Taylor. Only Sharlto Copley, as an ostentatious arms dealer, crosses the line into caricature, although thankfully he's funny more often than he's annoying. Ultimately though, how entertaining you find Free Fire will largely depend on how much you can laugh at people getting killed and/or maimed. Although considerably less nasty than some of Wheatley's earlier films such as Sightseers and A Field in England, this is still a decidedly dark affair. It's probably for the best than it only runs for an hour and a half. You can only go so long with a concept like this before the laughs are replaced with a sense of unease that's not anywhere near as fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDD3I0uOlqY
If you're a Brisbanite missing your regular pub meal, weekly date night out with your partner, or just having a bite to eat or a few drinks somewhere other than home, then good news might be on the horizon — with Queensland restaurants, cafes and bars possibly reopening in June. Speaking to media today, Monday, May 4, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed that the Queensland Government is currently considering allowing the hospitality industry to start welcoming customers again as early as next month. "I think June is a good ambitious target... I can't say whether it's early June or late June, but I'm going to have those discussions," the Premier commented. Other details haven't been announced at this early point, with the Premier set to speak with industry bodies and figures before anything is finalised. Currently, restaurants, cafes and bars are only allowed to provide takeaway and delivery options — so scaling that back, and allowing people to sit down to have a meal or a beverage, is the obvious next step. That said, with social distancing measures unlikely to be phased out any time soon, Queenslanders shouldn't expect an immediate return to pre-coronavirus business as usual. At the very least, it's likely that sitting 1.5 metres apart from your fellow diners will be required. [caption id="attachment_681498" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Grace Smith[/caption] Reopening restaurants, cafes and bars would form the next step of state's gradual move out of its current COVID-19 lockdowns. The first set of stay-at-home restrictions were eased late on Friday, May 1, allowing Queenslanders to leave home for more than just essential activities — and to travel within 50 kilometres of their residences. Today, the Premier revealed the next stage, which involves the return of students to schools over the course of this month. At the time of writing, Queensland has 52 active cases of COVID-19, from a total of 1038 cases to date. Since mid-April, new daily diagnoses have been falling, with fewer than eight new cases confirmed daily since April 15 — and the state experiencing five single days with zero new cases. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. Top image: Grace Smith
If you've been to Eagle Farm or Eat Street markets, you've likely lined up for Miss Claudes Crepes. They're not considered among the best in the city without good reason. In fact, the ravenous demand for their sweet treats has seen proprietors Naima Hughes and Justin Knudson open up their own New Farm cafe. At the slice of Paris on Brunswick Street, family recipes handed down from Naima's grandmother and mother — the eponymous Miss Claude — are cooked up for Brisbane's hungry masses. That includes salted caramel, chocolate, lemon meringue, banoffee, apple cinnamon pie and Nutella varieties. Nutella fans be warned: there's also a milkshake filled with your favourite hazelnut spread on the menu. Sticking with authentic French Normandie crepe tradition, savoury options are available as well. For anyone happy to forgo the fruit and ice cream-topped varieties, the famous brekkie crepe with bacon, scrambled egg, cheese, caramelised onion and our creamy homemade hollandaise, or lunch and dinner-appropriate servings of any meat and batter combination you desire are a must. Or, perhaps enjoy them as a main meal before a chocolate sauce-covered dessert.
Making wine, not just drinking it, is no longer on the agenda in Fortitude Valley. Five years after opening Brisbane's first inner-city winery, the City Winery team has announced that the company behind the venue, as well as the chain of Ardo's wine bars, has gone into voluntary liquidation. As a result, all of its locations — both City Winery spots and Ardo's alike — are closing effective immediately on Wednesday, September 4, 2024. In addition to its Wandoo Street base, where it took over Campos Coffee's old 500-square-metre warehouse, City Winery had expanded to Edward Street in the Brisbane CBD. Starting in early 2023, it also launched Ardo's neighbourhood bars, beginning in Newstead, then also setting up shop in Graceville, Hawthorne and Milton. "I am heartbroken at having to make the incredibly difficult decision to close City Winery and Ardo's. A drastic drop in consumer spending fuelled by the current cost-of-living and interest-rate environment, coupled with increases in labour and operational costs, have all had too great of a compounding impact on our business, along with the historical effects of COVID and lockdowns, for us to continue to operate," said City Winery Brisbane Former Director and CEO Dave Cush. "The recent opening of The Star at Queen's Wharf was the proverbial final nail — we simply cannot compete with an operation of that scale," Cush continued. "To our customers and clients affected by this closure, I offer my most heartfelt apologies and thank you for the years of support you've given us. You're the reason we kept going as long as we could." City Winery's Fortitude Valley location clearly didn't boast its own sprawling vineyard onsite. But, after sourcing grapes from around the country, it was barrelling, bottling and serving vino — and letting locals help with all of the steps in the process (as well as sip it, obviously). With Ardo's, the company set up neighbourhood wine bars in four busy parts of suburban Brisbane, where patrons could peruse its curated range of vino while getting drinking onsite over pintxos, cheese and charcuterie — or pick up their favourite tipple or a new discovery to take away. City Winery has closed at 11 Wandoo Street, Fortitude Valley and 162 Edward Street, Brisbane City — and Ardo's Wine Bar has closed at 22 Wyandra Street in Newstead, 335 Honour Avenue in Graceville, 7 Lindsay Street in Hawthorne and 19 McDougall Street in Milton.
"I didn't want to simply be a socialite," Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) tells us. "I wanted to become the king of socialites." He has succeeded grandly in this most empty of ambitions; his life seems an endless parade of high-society gatherings, fashionable soirees and art gallery openings. A louche writer resting on the laurels of his lone novel and the occasional magazine piece, Jep has turned recently turned 65 and is shaken from his decadent torpor when he learns that his first love has died. The news acts as a reminder of his own looming mortality and is a chance to reflect on the gradual decline of Rome. Writer-director Paolo Sorrentino's last film was the somewhat divisive little gem This Must Be The Place; this is a much more elaborate affair, stuffing dozens of vignettes of city life into its 142-minute running length. It evokes comparison with his great countrymen Federico Fellini and feels like a belated companion piece to La Dolce Vita, in its ambition, sweep and affectionate but pointedly warts-and-all portrait of a decaying, decadent metropolis. The Great Beauty is in cinemas on January 23, and thanks to Palace Films, we have 15 double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Read our full review here. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=koxRDhAQOpw
G20 brought many things to Brisbane: Obama, Russian warships, awkward speeches, global media attention, and inconvenient road closures among them. It also saw the city shout its name in giant, brightly-painted letters at South Bank. You've seen them. You took a photo. You used it as an easily identifiable meeting spot. Brisbane gained an inner-city landmark that wasn't a bridge or associated with a hairdresser (yes, we're talking about Stefan tower), as well as its own answer to the Hollywood and I Am Amsterdam signs. And boy, didn't it prove popular. Your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds have told the story for months. Of course, the government swiftly announced that it would stay as a permanent attraction, but it turns out that there's a hitch. There will be a sign displayed along the river on the Cultural Centre Forecourt — but it won’t be that exact same one. As anyone in the vicinity today has probably noticed, those letters are being removed, one by one. No, the city hasn’t been renamed 'ISBANE'. It's just that the current sign wasn't built to stand the test of time, or to weather Brisbane's punishing summer elements. The original installation hasn't fared so well during the recent storms and showers of hail, so it is being taken away; however another, sturdier version will pop up by June 6. That’s only a couple of months to wait before you can start taking happy snaps of it again. Fittingly, the date the new sign is scheduled to be in place is Queensland Day. Via The Age. Image: Dominka Lis.
For the past ten years, riverside drinks along Eagle Street have frequently meant a trip to Riverbar + Kitchen, which opened on Riparian Plaza's promenade level a decade ago. While the Solotel and Matt Moran co-owned venue has been closed since late-February due to Brisbane's recent floods, it's relaunching in mid-October — so put those waterfront sips back on your agenda. If you live in Brissie, and did when the River City lived up to its name in the wrong way earlier in 2022, then you likely saw the images of Riverbar + Kitchen doing the rounds. The entire place was submerged by the flooding, with just the tops of its yellow-and-white striped umbrellas sticking out of the water. It's no wonder, then, that it has taken more half a year for the venue to work through the damage. "To see such a beautiful venue go under water was absolutely horrible," said Moran. "When the floods came, it wasn't just about losing the venue but you have all your staff and customers to worry about, too." The chef and restaurateur can now see the tiniest of silver linings. "To rebuild from a completely blank canvas has been amazing — it's going to be a great refresh, a reinvigoration of what it used to be with a newer design, new branding and an elevated concept," Moran continued. Patrons can expect a new fitout, clearly, as well as a refreshed food and drinks lineup. While the full details haven't been revealed — and neither has the exact October reopening date — Riverbar + Kitchen will welcome in Brisbanites from breakfast till late, serving brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks as well. Three things that'll definitely feature on the new menu: a raw section heroing locally sourced seafood, plenty of fresh local produce in general, and a shared cocktail menu with drinks called Cherry Pie and A Walk in the Tropics. Those stunning riverside views will return, naturally — and likely plenty of folks making the most of them. Find Riverbar + Kitchen at Riparian Plaza, Promenade Level, 71 Eagle Street, Brisbane from mid-October, with an exact reopening date yet to be announced.
It has been more than two years since Australian fans of factual flicks were first able to head to streaming platform iWonder to get their documentary fix in a big way. It wasn't the first doco-focused service to hit Australia, and plenty of other other streamers also weave non-fiction throughout their catalogues — but it nonetheless launched with more than 500 hours of on-demand content available to Aussie viewers. Now, with more than 1000 titles in its lineup, the service is adding a new reason for Australians to drop by — for Sydneysiders at present, and for anyone who is placed under isolation orders in the near future. The platform has announced that it's offering 50 percent off its subscriptions for folks in lockdown. So, if you're a Sydney resident in need of something new to watch right now, after a couple of weeks at home and counting, this might be timely news. If you live elsewhere, you might want to bookmark this for later. Documentaries currently available on the platform cover a huge range of topics — from fast food social experiment Super Size Me through to gaming classic The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Other highlights include the exceptional Sherpa, which explores a series of tense incidents on Everest; Oscar-nominee For Sama, which was shot on the ground in Aleppo over five years; and both Whiteley and Basquiat: Rags to Riches, about the two artists. Under the lockdown deal, the $6.99 per month and $69.90 annual subscription fees will be halved to $3.50 and $35.50, respectively. New users will also receive the 14 days free as part of a trial. The service is available on iOS and Android, as well as online via its website, and on Telstra TV, Apple TV and Android TV — and can be cast to the small screen via Apple TV and Chromecast. The discounted price will remain in place for some time, too, because it's tied to Australia's vaccination rates. iWonder will offer the cheap rate until 75 percent of folks have access to the jab — but you'll have to be in an area under stay-at-home restrictions to only pay half-price. For more information about iWonder, or to sign up, head to the streaming platform's website. Top image: Sherpa.
Come October 2025 in Brisbane, Tomato Day will be back on the big screen, all thanks to Looking for Alibrandi's inclusion in this year's Italian Film Festival lineup. A quarter of a century has passed since the Pia Miranda (Invisible Boys)-starring Australian page-to-screen classic reached cinemas, so the nation's annual celebration of Italian movies has programmed the beloved picture based on Melina Marchetta's 1992 book in its closing-night slot. Audiences will get a particular filmic treat, too, given that the 4K restoration of the film will be gracing the screen. So, as well as surveying the latest in Italian cinema — as IFF does every year, 2025 being no exception — there's an Aussie flavour to the festival this time around. Another example: the Greta Scacchi (Darby and Joan)-narrated Signorinella: Little Miss, with the team responsible for Lygon St — Si Parla Italiano turning their attention to Italian women who helped make the Italian Australian community what it is. 2025's Italian Film Festival kicks off in September, running across Saturday, September 24 September8–Wednesday, October 22 at Palace Barracks and Palace James Street in Brisbane. While Looking for Alibrandi is on closing duties, romantic comedy Somebody to Love will get IFF 2024 started, as hailing from Perfect Strangers filmmaker Paolo Genovese. In the festival's centrepiece slot is La Grazia, the latest from Paolo Sorrentino (Parthenope) — and, like The Hand of God, Loro and The Great Beauty, starring Toni Servillo. Its inclusion is quite the get for IFF, given that the movie will head to Australia direct from having its world premiere opening the 2025 Venice International Film Festival. Servillo is a significant feature of IFF's lineup this year, too, thanks to also appearing in Sicilian Letters and The Illusion, with the first focusing on Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro's time as a fugitive and the second heading back to Giuseppe Garibaldi's efforts in 1860 to unify Italy. In another highlight, Napoli — New York sees Gabriele Salvatores (Cassanova's Return) chart the path of two Neapolitan children to New York in 1949 — and continue, as also evident courtesy of Looking for Alibrandi and Signorinella: Little Miss, the festival's celebration of migrant stories. The must-sees keep coming from there, with IFF also screening 2024 Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winner The Mountain Bride — Vermiglio; Diamonds by Ferzan Özpetek; The Great Ambition, which won Elio Germano (Trust) the Best Actor Award at the David di Donatello Awards for portraying former Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer; Italian box-office hit The Boy with the Pink Trousers; and the Valeria Golino (Maria)-led Fuori, a biopic about Italian feminist writer Goliarda Sapienza. Or, attendees can catch post-WWII-set drama My Place Is Here, as based on the novel by Daniela Porto; The Life Apart, which sports Vicenza as a backdrop; and Gianni Versace — Emperor of Dreams, as focused on the fashion icon. And, for its blast from the pasts for 2025, the fest is embracing giallo, to the delight of horror and thriller fans. Think: a new 4K restoration of Dario Argento's Deep Red, alongside Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace, Pupi Avati's The House with Laughing Windows and Sergio Martino's All the Colours of the Dark.
Put down the books. Step away from the screen. For your next history lesson, you're busting out your best fancy footwork. History of House commemorates dance music through the decades, covering tunes and beats from half a century. 70s disco? Check. Pop from the 80s? Tick there, too. All things house ever since? That's the star of the show. History of House boasts two big-name talents as well: Groove Terminator and the Soweto Gospel Choir. The Australia DJ and the Grammy-winning, world-famous choral group have been joining forces to break house music's origins and evolution down — and, yes, bring the house down — since the 2020 Adelaide Fringe, where it won the Best Music Show award. House music with the choir that've played with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Queen — plus Bono and Celine Dion — isn't the type of gig that you get to see every day. Now, it's Brisbane's time to make shapes, with the concert hitting up the River City on Sunday, September 10 as part of this year's packed Brisbane Festival program. Your dance floor for the evening: The Princess Theatre in Woolloongabba. Images: Helen Page / Brisbane Festival.
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image might be all about celebrating screen art — peering at films and TV shows, stepping into virtual reality and showcasing the talents that've made such a huge impact, for instance — but that doesn't mean that the Melbourne-based venue doesn't appreciate nature. The world around us can look stunning projected as large as a cinema can allow. David Attenborough has turned his documentaries about the planet into their own spectacular genre, too. And the natural realm can provide experimental artists with quite the playground to ponder, as Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature is exploring. This world-premiere exhibition sees art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast unveil a showcase of works that muse on trees, black holes, cells, breathing, space, science and more. Hitting ACMI from Thursday November 23, 2023–Sunday, April 14, 2024, Works of Nature spans five major pieces that aim to deeply contemplate and appreciate humanity's role in nature, and just nature overall. And, these aren't tiny pieces — these large digital works aim to inspire awe in both their size and content. This is the London-based MLF's first major showcase in Australia, adding a stint Down Under to appearances at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals, the Istanbul Design Biennial, Lisbon Triennial and the V&A and Design Museum in their hometown. [caption id="attachment_917014" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Distortions in Spacetime', 2018, courtesy of the artists[/caption] That impressive history is matched by a significant lineup of names involved with MLF's immersive Works of Nature pieces. Cate Blanchett (The New Boy) lends her narration, director Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life) executive produces, while Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood (Licorice Pizza) and fellow acclaimed composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (Last and First Men) are among the talents providing music — the latter's work continuing to entrance after his passing in 2018. Daisy Lafarge provides poetry, while Jon Hopkins, Meredith Monk and Howard Skempton also contribute tunes. Whether you're a Melburnian or have a trip to the Victoria capital in your future, you'll be able to see the meditative Evolver, which uses Blanchett's voice to journey through the human body, breath, the origins of cells and the cosmos — and Distortions in Spacetime, which heads to a black hole's edge. Or, there's the large-scale Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest, a video installation about the Amazon's kapok trees. Thanks to The Tides Within Us, oxygen is in focus again via six static pictures. And with We Live in an Ocean of Air, MLF examine how that last word in the piece's moniker connects life on earth. [caption id="attachment_917018" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'We Live in an Ocean of Air', courtesy of the artists.[/caption] Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature is running at the Australian Centre of the Moving Image until Sunday, April 14. For more information or to book tickets, visit the website. Top image: Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Distortions in Spacetime', 2018, courtesy of the artists.
Great news, movie buffs: when the Melbourne International Film Festival rolls around each year, it doesn't just let Melburnians who can dedicate their spare hours to the full fest experience join in the fun. MIFF Play, the event's digital offshoot, broadens the event's audience nationally — and, to the delight of cinephiles who can't hop between the Victoria capital's cinemas across August, the digital leg is returning for another spin in 2023. For the fourth year running, that's fabulous news both for Melburnians who still have normal life to attend to, and for film buffs interstate — a move sparked by the fact that in 2020, when MIFF first made the leap to streaming the fest in a big way, it enjoyed its biggest audience ever. In 2023, MIFF Play will be available from Friday, August 18–Sunday, August 27, and with a diverse array of titles. Price-wise, you can either pay as you watch or grab a MIFF Play flexipass. Either way, your couch awaits. The lineup includes the animated Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, which adapts Haruki Murakami's short stories; Keeping Hope, a documentary about Sweet As' Mark Coles Smith confronting an event from his past with a view to helping other young First Nations men in the Kimberley; Autobiography, about a housekeeper with a sinister boss; All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, which received the Berlinale's Teddy Award; and 20,000 Species of Bees, another prize-recipient in Germany, this time for lead performance. Or, the highlights also span Frederick Wiseman's A Couple, one of the master documentarian's rare dramatic features, focusing on the Tolstoys; Riddle of Fire, which has been garnering The Goonies and Stand by Me comparisons; witchcraft and revenge in 19th-century Chile in Sorcery; and Béla Tarr's 2000 drama Werckmeister Harmonies, a slow-cinema great, will has just scored a new 4K restoration. Your usual streaming queue can wait for these ten days, obviously.
Fancy cruising around on a glass-walled boat, partying over three levels, and pairing a killer view with a beach club vibe and plenty of beverages? Then you'll want to book a berth on Australia's new floating bar and party venue, Glass Island. Now sailing through Sydney Harbour until April — and then making its way up north for a Brisbane season, too — it's the country's latest excuse to live it up on the water. If the concept sounds familiar, that's because Seadeck has been doing the same thing in both cities for the past couple of years. In fact, Glass Island is actually the brainchild of one of that luxe vessel's creators. This time around, hospitality entrepreneur Scott Robertson has paired up with his frequent design collaborator Alex Zabotto-Bentley, aiming to mastermind "the most iconic hospitality location afloat in Australia". The resulting boat certainly stands out — surrounding out the ship with glass will do that, of course. Those gleaming, glistening panels are found on Glass Island's middle deck. In a space inspired by Miami pool clubs and beach front hotel lobbies, patrons will also find a seven-metre-long bar covered in mint-hued tiles, raw timber flooring, and a heap of lounges and other seating. The windows slide open, too, so you can enjoy the sea — or river — breeze. Upstairs, Zabotto-Bentley nods to Mediterranean beach clubs. Think dark orange, red and white colours, lounges you can sink into, VIP seating and crimson-toned umbrellas. There's one other big highlight up here as well: the 360-degree views. Both the top and middle decks place a big focus on music, with Glass Island playing host to resident DJs across a number of regular events. The first Sunday of each month sees Sneaky Sundays take over, with Sneaky Sound System's parties hitting up the venue. Also set to hit the boat are Yolanda Be Cool, Poolclvb and Colour Castle, as well nights dedicated to soul and retro 80s tunes. For those eager to chill downstairs, it houses a champagne and cocktail lounge — and a range of natural wines that you can only find on that level. Drinks-wise, the 18-strong cocktail list spans both classic and creative concoctions, so you can choose between espresso martinis and two types of negronis, or opt for a Pretty in Peach (with gin, prosecco and white peach) or Rib Tickler (with tequila, absinthe, pineapple, lime and cucumber). Food is also available, spanning flatbread pizzas; sliders with halloumi, wagyu or friend chicken; charcuterie boards and cheese plates; and Moreton Bay bug rolls. Glass Island is floating around Sydney until Sunday, April 5, setting off from King Street, Wharf 6, Darling Harbour, with tickets starting at $30. It'll return again in October — and head to Brisbane in-between, with exact dates yet to be announced. For more information — or to buy tickets to its current season — visit the venue's website. Images: Glass Island.
Since 1888, a pub has sat on Sandgate Road at Nundah, pouring brews for Brisbane's northsiders. The River City currently knows that watering hole as The Royal, but it was initially called Royal Hotel. Get used to that other moniker, beer lovers. Come July, it's making a comeback. And, when the venue reclaims its original name, it'll also show off a $1.1-million refurbishment. The Royal is owned by Australian Venue Co, as part of the hospitality company's sizeable range of pubs, bars and eateries around Brisbane, Queensland and Australia. And, as AVC has been doing to spots all over town — The Wickham, the Cleveland Sands, Salisbury Hotel, the Crown Hotel in Lutwyche, Bribie Island Hotel and Capalaba's Koala Tavern, to name a few — The Royal is getting a makeover. In a venue designed by the same architect as Crown Hotel, patrons can look forward to a new first-floor entertainment space, where live bands will take to the stage and comedians will stand behind the mic. It'll fit in 200 people, and also be available for private events. The Royal's bistro and terrace is also scoring a revamp, complete with greenery aplenty, marble-look tables, checkerboard floors and wooden accents, giving the pub a 120-seater — and family-friendly — dining space. A new menu will tempt tastebuds, too, covering pub classics and seasonal dishes, with the exact culinary range still to be revealed. And, the front bar and al fresco area are also receiving a new lease on life. Expect TV screens showing sports t0 80 folks, as part of a renovation overseen by architect Mel Porter Design. "As an historic Nundah institution, we are focussed on staying true to the pub's unique heritage throughout the renovations. We have worked closely with the architects to ensure that, like with Crown Hotel, we are creating a modern pub that residents and families are proud to call their local," said Australian Venue Co's Chief Operating Officer Craig Ellison, announcing the renovations. "The Royal Hotel is a very exciting project, creating more entertainment and social space for people to enjoy throughout the year." "This renovation is part of a huge program of investments into pubs in Brisbane and throughout Queensland and we can't wait for it to be fully revealed later this year," continued Ellison. The Royal remains open during its revamp; however, different sections will be closed at different time to undertake work. Starting on Wednesday, April 26, the bistro has shut its doors, but will reopen in mid-May. Next comes the sports bar, which'll be back up and running in mid-June. The gaming room follows for a week, also in mid-June, after which the upstairs entertainment room will welcome its new look. Find The Royal at 1259 Sandgate Road, Nundah, with the pub remaining open during renovations, but different sections closing in stages. The venue will relaunch as Royal Hotel in mid-July — we'll update you with an exact opening date when it is announced. Top image: Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.
Back in 2018, when Milton welcomed its first rum microdistillery, it challenged the suburb's beer-loving status quo. This is the home of the XXXX brewery, its giant neon sign and its constant yeasty smell, after all, as well as Newstead Brewing Co's second site, fellow brewery Milton Common and beer-loving dive bar The Scratch. But there's room in this inner city spot for more than one type of booze, or even two — as Warehouse 25 is also keen to demonstrate. Setting up shop on Finchley Street — so, in the shadow of both XXXX and Newstead Brewing — Warehouse 25 is all about gin and vodka. If you like clear spirits, you'll be happy here. It distills both on site and serves them at its bar, too. It also bottles them for folks to take home under the Calm Spirits Co label from its soon-to-open bottle shop. Everyone stopping by for a drink can see the distilling magic in action, with the 100-litre vodka still and 50-litre gin still in full view. Walk through the converted warehouse's barn-style doors and you won't miss them. You'll also spot wooden tables galore, as part of an indoor and outdoor area that includes an underground function space — and twinkling lights strung up above. Owner Cameron Lee has designed the space to cater for a number of purposes, too: casual drinks, live music, art exhibitions and vintage garage sales, for instance, plus both block and private parties. But, in addition to the spirits lineup, it's the in-house pizzeria that's a big drawcard. Patrons can choose from nine different types, including ricotta and meatball, and a potato bake pizza — and pair them with other Italian-style bites such as caprese and arancini. As for the drinks themselves, obviously gin and vodka feature heavily in the venue's cocktails, which span its own signature tipples and a range of classics. If you're in the mood for a different type of tipple, yes, there's beer on the menu (and yes, XXXX is one of them). Plus, there's also a small wine selection.
If relaxation is like a foreign word to you, then it's time to enlist the help of the professionals. Slide into next level chill at Beyond Rest with a private floatation experience. As you step into your flotation room, you'll be faced with what looks like a big, enclosed bathtub. This is your floatation pod, designed to eliminate all distractions, including sights, sounds, tactile sensations and even gravity. After a few moments in the pod, you'll feel like you're floating through space since the salt water is buoyant enough to support you entirely. The water is also heated to body temperature, so you can't tell where you end and the water begins. Floaters report increased energy, feelings of calm and total relaxation. Life is nuts, take time for you and float away all your stress.
When Good Chef Bad Chef and Richo's Bar Snacks chef Adrian Richardson, ex-Cha Cha Char restaurateur Chris Higgins and lawyer Liam McMahon teamed up on BŌS, a 120-seater restaurant that adores meat so much that it has its own 'Cleaver Club', it promised Brisbane more than just a meal. The Queen Street spot opened in late 2022, with a sibling bar always in the works as well. Now, just as spring approaches in the River City, cocktail spot The Aviary Terrace Bar is pouring. Like BŌS, you'll find this watering hole opposite Customs House, in Otto Ristorante's old Dexus Tower digs — but making the most of an 800-square-metre al fresco space. Before, after or instead of a hearty lunch or dinner, Brisbanites can hit up The Aviary Terrace Bar for drinks and bites, with the doors open from Thursday, August 24. The venue will sling sips three days a week to begin with, from Thursday–Saturday, with Sunday trading due to kick in sometime late in September. To get there, patrons are advised to either take the lift from the complex's Queen Street entrance, or use the escalator from Adelaide Street. Either way, a sunny openair hangout with Brisbane River, Story Bridge and city views awaits. Higgins has dubbed the two ventures "a new dining and cocktail destination", "a hub for everything from corporate lunches and dinners through to celebratory events and social catchups" and "a must-visit precinct for Brisbane's birds of play to spread their wings". The decor matches the relaxed mood he's aiming for, including a colour palette heroing salmon and deep green tones, plus seven booths to get cosy in. Patrons will also find a curated range of tipples, including cocktails, craft beer, wine and champagne — complete with bottle service to the bar's booths — and light snacks. The libations span options with bird-themed names, such as the Ibis (vodka, blanc vermouth, manzanilla, olive brine and tonic water), the White Heron (agave, rum, coconut water, lime juice, pink grapefruit juice and fresh mint) and the Green Catbird (gin, lemon juice, basil liqueur and basil leaves). And among the bites: wagyu beef croquettes, oysters, prawn and bug rolls, eggplant crisps, Korean fried chicken, garlic prawn toasties, pork dumplings and cheeseburger spring rolls. Also, in the coming months, parties will pop up to make the most of the enviable location. If you're keen on pairing a trip here with a stint at BŌS as well, the latter clearly goes heavy on steak — it takes its name from the Latin word for beef, after all — with steak tartare, six cuts from the grill, and three giant 1.2–2.23-kilogram options to share all on offer. That said, diners can also choose from oysters, prawn cocktails, chargrilled Fremantle octopus, Tasmanian rock lobster, pork rib eye and duck breast with black garlic as part of BŌS' embrace of different types of proteins. Find The Aviary Terrace Bar on level four, 480 Queen Street, Brisbane — open 3pm–12am Thursday–Friday and 12pm–12am Saturday, with Sunday trading coming in late September.
If you've ever said "XOXO" aloud, you've obviously seen Gossip Girl, the glossy, quickly addictive drama about Manhattan teens, their hectic lives and their glam outfits that initially aired between 2007–2012. It's the show that introduced the world to Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley, and made everyone want to sit on the steps of The Met. It also demonstrated that you can never have too many headbands, and had us all wishing that Kristen Bell could narrate our every move, too. Gossip Girl is getting a follow-up series with a brand new cast that's also heading to Binge, because nothing says goodbye forever these days — and because all that drama was never going to subside for too long. But there's still nothing quite like the original, which starts with the return of Serena van der Woodsen (Lively) to the Upper East Side and the fallout within her inner circle, as constantly chronicled by an all-knowing blogger.
Where: Numerous venues around Sydney When: January 8-30, 2012 (tickets on sale November 9) Web: www.sydneyfestival.org.au The reinvigorated Sydney Festival has completely transformed our city in summer (note the flagpoles which every year proclaim just that) and it’s made Sydney a truly amazing place to be in January. The whole city is turned into a summer wonderland, there’s something amazing to do every single night, and people flood The Domain to see sophisticated performances while merrily sipping beer, cider, goon or all three. But mostly what the Sydney Festival does is bring us some truly spectacular performers – Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Emmylou Harris, Camera Obscura and this year's headliner, PJ Harvey – whose artistic merit is second only to their ability to entertain. The Sydney Festival now has a total audience of about 1 million, making it the most attended cultural event in Australia. Every year the festival grows and improves, and with the state government recently giving the Festival a heap of cash to extend their program, it makes the prospects for this summer’s partying very exciting indeed. Concrete Playground has compiled a short list of musical, theatrical and artistic must-sees and -dos during Sydney Festival 2012. Click on the images below to read on...
There's a particular texture to Los Angeles after dark that suits stories of crime and self-interest to a tee. A desolate urban badland of freeways and fast food joints, there's this eeriness; this unnaturalness; this inescapable sense of menace; that seems to creep out of the concrete and set your nerves on edge. You can feel it in Michael Mann's Heat, or in Collateral a decade later. You can feel it in sections of Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive. And you can feel it in Nightcrawler, from writer-director Dan Gilroy, as it glides out of the darkness and seizes you by the throat. Always at his best when playing characters gripped by obsession — Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, Robert Graysmith in Zodiac, or Detective David Loki in last year's masterful Prisoners — Jake Gyllenhaal is in career-best form as Lou Bloom, Gilroy's unsettled protagonist, and our tour guide through the sordid LA underbelly. Inspired after witnessing a car accident, Lou decides to carve out a career as a 'nightcrawler', videotaping crime scenes and selling them to a local TV station for broadcast on the 6am news. Read our full review here. Nightcrawler is in cinemas November 27. Thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have ten double passes to give away in each city. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
I've lived within walking distance of Stones Corner for almost 15 years now, and sadly, I've watched the area slowly deteriorate. Its historic shopfronts have long been boarded up, retailers continue to pack up shop, and employment offices now seem to outnumber the stores that once culminated a thriving shopping precinct. Even after all these years, I've continued to walk the almost empty main strip in the hope that someone will rescue this neat little pocket of Brisbane from oblivion. Then a café named Lady Marmalade came along. Located in the old corner shop where Replay Records and CDs once kept me occupied on the weekends, Lady Marmalade is just the lodger Stones Corner has been lacking these past few years. Bare brick walls, odd ornaments and table numbers represented by rubber fruits with faces only add to the charm of the café's interesting fit-out. And as if there isn't enough to take in while you're waiting for your meal, the tables are covered with a mixture of famous art and front-page clippings from half-century old Brisbane newspapers. While the eccentric décor would undoubtedly be enough to draw in passers-by, the home-style menu and ever-changing cabinet of treats at the counter is surely enough to clinch the deal. My favourite, the haloumi sandwich – that's haloumi, roasted pumpkin, chilli and mint pesto, tomato and spinach on sourdough – is worth going back for again and again. Add a damn fine cup of coffee and some of the best baklava I've ever tasted and you've got something to tell your friends about.
Us Aussies might not get to enjoy a white Christmas here on home turf, but that doesn't mean we can't indulge in all the classic wintery yuletide treats. Think, fruit mince pies, creamy egg nog and spiced gingerbread fresh from the oven. Or hey, how about a festive fusion of gingerbread and gin, like you'll find in the latest drop from The Craft & Co? The Collingwood distillery has just announced the return of its cult favourite Gingerbread Gin, a seasonal creation that's been steadily growing in popularity since debuting in 2019. Having just scooped another medal at last month's Australian Gin Awards, the spiced tipple is once again heading to a bottle shop shelf near you, with this year's edition now available to buy from The Craft & Co's online store and select booze retailers. The spirit is a nod to one of the classic food and drink pairings, inspired by stories from 18th-century England, when Brits would apparently warm the cockles with a combination of hot gin and gingerbread. The Craft & Co's riff on this concept takes the form of a rich, smooth gin, with warming flavours imparted by a mix of cinnamon, macerated ginger root, smashed nutmeg and tonka bean. It's unfiltered and clocks in with an ABV of 40 percent. So, how to put this Gingerbread Gin to good use? Apart from sipping it neat or on ice for a quick hit of Christmas cheer, the distillers recommend matching the drink with some blood orange soda or ginger beer. We're told it also works a treat in milky cocktails, and you can find recipes for a Gingerbread Gin Alexander and a Gingerbread Gin Egg Nog over on The Craft & Co's website. You can grab a Gingerbread Gin for $85 from The Craft & Co's online store or at its cellar door at 390 Smith Street, Collingwood. It's also available from select retailers including Dan Murphy's, BWS and Boozebud.
If things seem a little impressionistic at QUT Art Museum for the next few months, that's by design — Australia's female abstract artists have taken over the gallery's walls. Until August 26, the CBD space will be highlight the significant contribution that women have made to the country's abstract and modern art thanks to touring exhibition Abstraction: Celebrating Australian Women Abstract Artists, which comes from the National Gallery of Australia. Expect shapes, colours, lines and any other abstract representation you can think of, all as part of an array of paintings and sculptures. There's 74 works by 38 artists, to be specific, with historical greats such as Margaret Preston, Dorrit Black, Grace Crowley, Margo Lewers, Janet Dawson on display beside into contemporary artists like Virginia Cuppaidge, Elizabeth Coats, Melinda Harper and Debra Dawes — and Indigenous talents including Emily Kam Kngwarray and Sally Gabori. If this kind of showcase sounds a little out of the ordinary, redressing that reality — and shining a spotlight on the country's creative ladies — is also part of the plan. The exhibition offers "a timely reminder of the role of women in the development of abstract painting, at a time when major art institutions have a tendency to applaud male artists," explains QUT Art Museum Curator Kevin Wilson. Image: Grace Crowley. Abstract painting 1947, oil on cardboard. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchased 1959. Courtesy National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Besides being famous for The Gabba cricket ground, the chic underside of the inner-city suburb of Woolloongabba is well known to southsiders. Tucked away off Logan and Ipswich roads, five great breakfast spots could be argued as some of the best in Brisbane. Before you say otherwise, give them a try yourself. You won't be disappointed. 1. The Crosstown Eating House Paying homage to its antique store origins, The Crosstown Eating House is a contemporary interpretation of a 1920s dining room. Amongst elegant art deco styling with a downtown cool feel, guests at the Crosstown can relive laidback Gatsby vibes with hearty meals such as potato and feta hash cakes with tomato jam, smashed peas, herb sour cream, poached eggs and rocket ($17.50). With decent helpings of simple food that tick all the boxes, try the spicy chorizo bake with kipfler potatoes, winter greens, a fried egg and toast ($17.50), or for something sweet the Canadian-style French toast with bacon and maple syrup or lemongrass poached pear, coconut ricotta and lime goes down a treat (both $16.90). If you can't make breakfast (or are busy dining at Woolloongabba's other fine breakfast establishments) the menu for both lunch and dinner won't disappoint. And the bar is open until late. 23 Logan Road, Woolloongabba 2. Pawpaw Cafe Let's get this straight. Brunch at Pawpaw is not an eggs, baked beans and bacon affair. Its menu takes more adventurous cues, in part from its Balinese and Thai sister restaurant, Green Papaya. If you're lucky, the black pudding, scramble eggs, apple and jalapeno jam ($12.90) will feature on the ever-changing menu or specials board. Or try the baked eggs in a sofrito with chorizo and dukkah sprinkled on top ($14.95), or their legendary corn cakes with chipotle sour cream, avocado, tomato relish ($11.90). Corner of Potts Street and Stanley Street, Woolloongabba 3. Brown Dog Cheap, cheerful and super laidback, Brown Dog has nailed the combination of fantastic coffee, great service and simple yet delicious food. Pocketed away in the industrial sector, Brown Dog is a poorly kept secret with locals, and on most Saturdays cosy indoor seating and sun-soaked outdoor seating are equally popular. The all-day breakfast menu features the signature Dog's Breakfast ($13), including haloumi, grilled tomato, wilted spinach and avocado as well as more adventurous options like the breakfast burrito ($14) complete with house-made beans, wild rocket, avocado and a fried egg. Brown Dog has certainly cemented itself as a favourite among southsiders, with good reason. 54 Logan Rd, Woolloongabba 4. Pearl Cafe It seems Pearl Cafe was onto a good thing with its 'what's old is new again' stance on cuisine. Owned by former Gunshop Cafe manager Daniel Lewis, Pearl is a throwback to days when food was highly valued and eating out was a glamorous excursion. The food at Pearl Cafe is decadent, filling and by no means suitable for those on a diet. With changing seasonal menus, new to breakfast this winter is the braised beef short ribs, rainbow chard, hash cake, and hen's egg, and the homemade lemon verbena crumpets, goat curd, mandarin and cardamom compote. And we hear their Sunday lunch roast is set to rival Grandma's. 28 Logan Rd, Woolloongabba 5. Foxy Bean Once you step through the bright red door, Foxy's decor will convince you to take a seat. You'll need one; there is a lot going on. Taking inspiration from the suburbs' many Queenslander-style homes, the walls are an eclectic mishmash of colourful v-joint pine boards and pressed tin, and that's just the entrance. Further in, the Foxy Drop, a bar with painted murals, a wall of fake hanging vines and taxidermy animals will capture your imagination. Keep going through the rabbit warren (or should we say fox den) to discover an AstroTurfed courtyard with plenty of space. Foxy is known for classic breakfasts with a tasty twist; the eggs Benedict with savoury mince ($16.90) or the haloumi breakfast (large slices of haloumi, thyme-sauteed mushrooms, avocado, lemon, herb-roasted tomato and sourdough, $16.90) are popular hits. We've tested both and give them two thumbs up. 896 Stanley St East, Woolloongabba By the Concrete Playground team.
For almost a quarter-century, Jamie Oliver has been sharing his culinary tips with audiences worldwide. This November, he'll dish up a chat about all that time spent in and around kitchens — on-screen, by releasing recipe books and thanks to his stint in the restaurant business — at Sydney Opera House. The Naked Chef, Oliver's Twist, Jamie's Kitchen and Jamie's Comfort Food star is heading back Down Under for an Aussie-exclusive discussion, returning to the Harbour City after selling out a talk at the same venue in 2015. Back then, Oliver brought his Food Revolution with him, and cooked up a storm live while making his Opera House debut. This time, he's in conversation with Melissa Leong about the 24 years since The Naked Chef first hit television — and all the pukka cuisine he's whipped up since. "Every time I visit Australia it feels like a big old hug — it's a real home away from home for me and I'm so excited to be back this year for this event." said Oliver, announcing the chat. "I can't wait to sit down with you all for good chats about good food and good times, have a laugh, and take some questions from the audience. And, it is such a privilege to be at the Sydney Opera House, what a setting. I hope to see you there." While there's clearly no shortage of topics for Oliver to touch on when Saturday, November 11 hits, when he takes to the stage in the famed venue's Concert Hall — the British chef has those two-plus decades of TV shows, those 70-plus eateries in 22 countries, and oh-so-many recipes to mention, for starters — this once-off event is timed around two specific things. Firstly, he's launching a campaign about creating "a happier, healthier world through the joy of food". And secondly, he's just released his new cookbook 5 Ingredients: Mediterranean. Attendees at this Sydney-only talk will also learn what keeps Oliver inspired and motivated, why he loves cooking so much and about his passion for getting in the kitchen. He's the latest big-name chef discussing his career onstage in Australia this year, following on from Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi, Oliver's fellow Brits Marco Pierre White and Nigella Lawson, and viral recipe queen Alison Roman. Jamie Oliver in conversation with Melissa Leong will take place in Sydney Opera House's Concert Hall on Saturday, November 11, 2023 — with ticket pre-sales fro 9am on Wednesday, August 23, and general sales from 9am on Thursday, August 24. Images: Jamie Oliver Enterprises / Paul Stuart.
Seems a little coincidental that The Herd is heading to The Zoo doesn't it? Whoever teamed the Aussie hip hop act with the Brisbane venue must have enjoyed a bit of a chuckle to themselves. The cleverly named pairing is taking place as a part of the band's 'The sum of it all' tour. It's been ten long years since The Herd made their musical debut with their triple j featured hit 'Scallops.' Since then the Sydney act has impacted the Australian music industry and shaped the sound of modern Australian hip hop. Not one to shy away from controversial topics and speaking their mind, The Herd's lyrics are widely admired for their stance against authority. Throughout their ten years performing, the band has bravely critiqued the Australian government, the media - particularly talk back radio and Australia's involvement within the Iraq war. The Herd's live show is just as unconventional and unique as their lyrics. Consisting of two MCs, two singers, a bass, piano accordion, clarinet, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, and laptops, seeing The Herd live is to bare witness to a dynamic and fiery performance. In celebration of the group's first single 'Sum of it all' from their soon to be released album, The Herd will be touring Australia. Some shows have already sold out so get in quick to avoid disappointment. for their culturally diverse music and expression of modern day hip hop. The witty lyrics cleverly questions authority, First single ‘The Sum of it All’ drops in March from their fifth album, due August 2011. If you’ve seen them live, you’ll also be familiar with their ability to laugh at themselves and bring the crowd together as one. Witness the heart of Elefant Traks live on stage this Autumn.
You love movies, but you're tired of watching the same old film fare. You want to venture outside of your viewing comfort zone, and out of your home as well. That's where underground film festivals come in, sampling the weird and wonderful delights never to grace mainstream cinemas. In Brisbane, that's BUFF, the city's only festival championing the overlooked and the under-seen. Since 2010, founder Nina Riddel has celebrated the eclectic and the experimental with the city's film fans, and her 2016 picks continue the trend. The highest-profile movie of the bunch is Sebastian Silva's excellent Nasty Baby starring Kristen Wiig and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe; however there's something for all offbeat tastes at BUFF. Moving yet again — this time from January to February on the calendar, and to New Farm Cinemas, too — the festival opens with an effort about trying to create a follow-up to a Joe Swanberg film, and then keeps the movies about movies theme going with a documentary look at outsider artist and filmmaker Giuseppe Andrews. Want more? There's Applesauce' combo of radio talkback and severed limbs, A Feast of Man's cannibal dinner party and 600 Miles' drug-trafficking drama . That's your weekend viewing sorted.
2014 is looking to be a good year for music in Australia and New Zealand, with visits from Neko Case and Gold Panda. Indie rocker and singer/songwriter Neko Case (of The New Pornographers) has announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for the release of her newest solo album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I fight, The More I Love You. Released this past September, this is Case's first album since 2009's extremely popular Middle Cyclone. The Worse Things Get... is full of tracks with the same vigour and bluntness that audiences appreciated in past hits such as 'People Got a Lotta Nerve' and 'I'm an Animal'. Her lyrical candour is particularly riotous in 'Man', where she declares, "And if I'm dipshit drunk on the pink perfume / I am the man in the fucking moon / 'Cause you didn't know what a man was / Until I showed you." Indubitably, Case is a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, electro highflier Gold Panda (aka Derwin Powers) first popped onto the radar in 2009, and has constantly thrown EPs and 7"s at us since. He's dropped two critically praised albums, 2010's Lucky Shiner and 2013's Half of Where You Live. This latest album holds truth in its name. Half of Where You Live is an electronic echo of the producer's experiences: having lived in Japan and travelled extensively, he's now based in Berlin. With tracks such as 'An English House', 'Enoshima' and 'My Father in Hong Kong 1961', our ears get an ambiguous, aural journey through Powers' experiences and geography. Neko Case February/March 2014 Tour Dates Perth: 27 February at Fly By Night Melbourne: 1 and 2 March at Corner Hotel and Melbourne Zoo Twilights Sydney: 3 March at Sydney Opera House Brisbane: 5 March at Hi Fi Adelaide: 7 March at Fowlers Live Mossvale: 8 March at Meeniyan Town Hall Meredith: 9 March at Golden Plains Festival Wellington: 12 and 13 March at NZ Festival Auckland: 14 March at Powerstation Tickets available from Handsome Tours Gold Panda March 2014 Tour Dates Sydney: 6 March at Oxford Art Factory Melbourne: 7 March at Corner Hotel Perth: 9 March at The Bakery Also appearing at Golden Plains Festival. Tickets available from Handsome Tours. https://youtube.com/watch?v=unNa-9qGkfI
Not all that long ago, rooftop bars were rare in Brisbane. What a difference a few years makes. Iris Rooftop is the latest to join the city's sky-high heights, towering over Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley. And if you haven't had an excuse to stop by yet, you might want to add it to your Sunday itinerary quick smart. You can obviously drop by any other day you like, of course, but the last day of the weekend is when you'll find Sky-High Sundays in full swing. From 2pm, Iris is pairing its usual menu — think soda cocktails and Mediterranean-inspired dishes — with R&B tunes. As you peer over the city, stand by Iris' lit-up bar and tap your toes, you'll be able to tuck into cantabrian anchovies with tomato migas bread and crème fraiche — and sip margarita, cosmopolitan, watermelon daiquiri and amaretto sour sodas. Entry is free, but you'll need your wallet for whatever tempts your tastebuds.
One of 2013's best album covers, Pennsylvanian Kurt Vile's LP Waking On a Pretty Daze featured a specially commissioned mural by Steve "ESPO" Powers in Philadelphia. Now the bright, purely inoffensive mural — which controversially features a rampaging dancing snowflake, threateningly adorable postbox and a terribly welcoming couch surround by a love heart and the words "There's a place for all my friends." — has been painted over by local man DJ Lee Mayjahs, according to Philadelphian radio station WXPN. Why? Apparently the mural was "attracting graffiti to the neighbourhood." WARNING: Vile fans, this photo hurts a little. Philadelphia journalist Leah Kaufmann spoke to Mayjahs, turns out he really didn't know what he was doing when he took to the mural with white paint. Mayjahs is apparently horrified by his actions and has offered every sincere apology. "I got home and started doing research on my computer. I can't believe what I had done ad I wrote a letter to Kurt Vile apologising," he said. "I wrote a letter to the artist Espo apologising, telling them that I would pay Espo to come down and repaint it. I also wrote a letter to the mural arts apologising. Apparently it wasn't official. Even though it wasn't official I'm sorry for everything I did. I would do whatever I could do to make it right. I really am sorry. I don't know what I was doing. I literally lost my mind and took it out which was the dumbest thing I've ever done in my entire life." "I live in that neighbourhood. I've lived there for 15 years. I'm always cleaning up the streets and alleyways. I don't know… for some reason I feel like ever since that piece has been there it's attracted more and more graffiti to that neighbourhood, he said. "Every time I paint over illegal graffiti I was blaming it on it (the mural) and I didn't realise the people in the neighbourhood love it, I've never really sat and looked at it. I never did any research on it and then I just snapped." "I didn't think anything through and acted false pretence. I didn't think about the consequences of my actions. I'm sorry about that, I love Philadelphia, I love my neighbourhood and I love the arts. I'm a big supporter of the arts and so for me to do something that offends all of these people is completely out of character for me. Anybody who knows me will tell you the exact same thing. I'm sorry about it." Vile's rep has confirmed to that ESPO will head back to the mural and repaint it. The building's owner and the attached restaurant are apparently fans, seeing no reason to fear a graffiti influx to their Philadelphian streets because of it. Check out the mini-doco about the creation of the mural and just stare forlornly at the Waking On a Pretty Daze album cover for consolation: https://youtube.com/watch?v=I4RlljcBKg0 Via Pitchfork, Metro and WXPN.
"Accio April 2022" isn't something any character has uttered in either the Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts films, but it's what you might be chanting to yourself right now if you're a fan of both. Four years after the last big-screen entry in the Wizarding World — the franchise that's sprung up around The Boy Who Lived — Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has just dropped its first trailer. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 reached cinemas a decade back, it was never going to be the end of the on-screen story. Cue the Fantastic Beasts series, which took an illustrated guide book about magical creatures, spun a story about its magizoologist author Newt Scamander, and started a Harry Potter prequel saga. Conjuring up more enchantment hasn't been quite so straightforward this time around, however — and how you feel about 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and 2018's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald might just depend on how spellbound you are with everything HP. But this franchise-within-a-franchise was always going to go on, and The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third entry in the planned five-film series. When it hits the silver screen next year, The Secrets of Dumbledore will once again give Jude Law another 'young' role; he played The Young Pope, so seeing him step into young Albus Dumbledore's shoes in The Crimes of Grindelwald felt like the most natural thing in the world. And, just like in that last Fantastic Beasts flick, Law's version of the future Hogwarts headmaster is pivotal to Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and his pals' efforts to face off against the evil Gellert Grindelwald. That said, Grindelwald, the dark wizard who just keeps trying to control all things magical — and wreak havoc on everything in general — isn't quite the same this time around. Both Colin Farrell (Voyagers) and Johnny Depp (Minamata) have previously played the role, but Mads Mikkelsen (Riders of Justice) has now replaced the latter. As the trailer for The Secrets of Dumbledore shows, Grindelwald is still solemnly up to no good — and his devoted following is only growing — so it's up to Scamander, Dumbledore, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston, The Third Day), Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol, Between Us) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, The Walking Dead) to try to save the day. That requires a dangerous mission led by Scamander, who obviously crosses paths with plenty of beasts (it's right there in the franchise's title). Ezra Miller (Zack Snyder's Justice League) also returns as Credence/Aurelius Dumbledore, while Jessica Williams (Love Life) follows up her brief appearance in The Crimes of Grindelwald by return as Ilvermorny professor Eulalie 'Lally' Hicks. And making the magic happen behind the lens is David Yates, who has directed every Wizarding World film — Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts alike since 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Break out the butterbeer and check out the trailer below: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore opens in cinemas Down Under on April 7, 2022.
If a place named Greaser Bar didn't serve up burgers, there'd be trouble. And you won't just find any old American-style offerings in this rock 'n' roll dive bar — you'll find as close to cheeseburger perfection as you're likely to get without jumping on a plane and heading to the US. Simplicity is the key, with ground Angus beef, cheese, pickles, onions, tomato, lettuce and burger sauce all you need for mouthwatering greatness. If you are after something a little different, there's also an on-trend mac 'n' cheese option, as well as an ever-changing array of specials.
Infectious, polished pop is what Architecture in Helsinki do, and now you can witness it in person. The long-time fan will tell you that every Architecture in Helsinki show is different; for the newcomer, we can assure you that the show is sure to be electric with each track more ecstatic that the last; it will be a celebration of the arts and the beauties of life. Their latest record has been causing a stir on behalf of the band; NOW + 4EVA hit the shelves late last month, boasting the singles ‘Dream A Little Crazy’ and ‘In the Future’, giving fans the satisfaction of an undeniable follow up to the undeniable favourites of the past decade. The band is gearing up for their national tour as part of the Groovin’ the Moo lineup, and have prepared themselves for big shows with Brisbane being no exception. Playful and electric, smart and classic, with a bit of added cheek; Architecture in Helsinki are an exciting live act in the prime of their music-making career.
Pakistani activist and history's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai is heading Down Under, for two exclusive talks in Sydney and Melbourne this December. She'll appear as part of The Growth Faculty's thought-provoking Women World Changers speaker series — the same event that brought Hillary Clinton to Australia and New Zealand in May this year. Yousafzai was just 11 when she first launched her campaign to promote education for girls, penning a blog from her home city in Pakistan's Swat Valley. At 15, she survived an attack by the Taliban, and in 2014, went on to become the youngest person ever awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Her remarkable story continues, as she sticks with the fight for education rights for every girl in the world. The activist co-founded the Malala Fund and currently studies at the University of Oxford. Now, for the first time, the inspirational 21-year-old will share her experiences with Australian audiences, speaking at Sydney's International Convention Centre on Monday, December 10, and at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre the following night. Catch An Evening with Malala Yousafzai at the International Convention Centre, Sydney, on Monday, December 10, and at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, on Tuesday, December 11. Tickets are $99, available via The Growth Faculty's website.
