In 2015, Volumes brought a new multi-venue live music journey to Sydney, establishing themselves as some of the city's finest purveyors of live musical, visual and electronic art. As part of their now annual mini-festival, the crew has hosted a wealth of local artists including Harvey Sutherland & Bermuda, Inkswel, and The Posse. It's all about pushing the envelope with these guys, and the launch of Volumes Monthly vows to be no different. A brand new monthly series of works from rising stars in electronic art, Volumes Monthly will be hosted at Cake Wines Cellar Door in Redfern. Expect an eclectic cornucopia of sounds, visuals and a healthy injection of energy as artists Anatole, Huntly, Marcus Whale, and Mira Boru take the stage. Despite legislative appearances, Sydney's electronic scene is alive and kicking, and the Volumes Monthly series looks to keep that scene growing in size and scope. Early bird tickets are available for $10, with first release tickets going for a cheeky $15. Image: Volumes.
Hey Dad! Steve! Over here! Two of your favourites are playing Bluesfest this year! Let's go! Bluesfest Byron Bay's 2017 lineup came from somewhere back in our long ago, with two big mum and dad-friendly superstars being the latest additions to the lineup: The Doobie Brothers and Santana. One of Australia's best festivals, the five-day Easter long weekend event has played to its core audience with their latest lineup additions. First up, the legend himself, groundbreaking, Grammy-nabbing, Afro-Latin-blues-rock fusion king, nay, sultan Santana is coming to melt faces and throw down elongated solos like the melodic monarch he is. Expect 'Black Magic Woman'. Then, takin' it to the streets of Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, California's harmonising head honchos The Doobie Brothers will make their triumphant return to Bluesfest. The Doobies have some serious fans at Bluesfest — do not try and push in front of them. They join legend Patti Smith and superstar Mary J. Blige on the heaving heaving lineup. BLUESFEST 2017 LINEUP Santana The Doobie Brothers Zac Brown Band Patti Smith and her band perform Horses Mary J. Blige The Lumineers Buddy Guy (exclusive) Bonnie Raitt Mavis Staples (exclusive) Billy Bragg Jethro Tull Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue Rickie Lee Jones Gregory Porter Snarky Puppy St. Paul and the Broken Bones Corinne Bailey Rae Michael Kiwanuka Nahko and Medicene for the People Gallant Beth Hart (exclusive) Laura Mvula Andrew Bird Booker T. presents The Stax Records Review Roy Ayers Joan Osborne Turin Brakes The Strumbellas Jake Shimabukuro Dumpstaphunk The Suffers Nikki Hill Irish Mythen Image: Andy Fraser.
You might already be acquainted with the work of David Stephenson — a prominent American-by-birth photographer who now lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania. Human Landscapes at the Art Gallery of NSW showcases a collection of Stephenson's landscape photography drawn from the gallery's collection. The exhibition aims to highlight his subversion of traditional approaches to the medium, which charges his work with the ability to alter both the way we look at the world and how we consider our own place within it. Engaging with philosophical concepts using a poetic but minimalist sensibility, Stephenson's photography ultimately transmits the transcendental force of the landscape. Human Landscapes will collate a number of Stephenson's early works, including his romantic pinhole photographs of majestic seas, skies and expansive panoramas from the 1980s. Also featured are his starker — yet still poignant — pieces shot in the Antarctic during the 1990s. Fans of landscape photography definitely shouldn't miss this. Image: David Stephenson, The Zinc Works and Mount Wellington from Store Point, Tasmania (2004), from the series Marking time (2003-05). Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of the artist (2011) © David Stephenson. Photo: Diana Panuccio, AGNSW.
Kick off 2016 in serious style with an epic New Year's Day shindig at the Watson Bay Boutique Hotel. The harbourside destination is teaming up with the iconic Hamptons venue The Surf Lodge for a summer pop-up by the water — and it all begins on January 1 with a private beach party headlined by a top secret international act. Located in Montauk on Long Island, The Surf Lodge is best known for its outdoor music concerts featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Solange Knowles, Willie Nelson and the Flaming Lips. No confirmation yet on which famous face they've got locked for Sydney, although the supporting lineup will include Oli Benz, Dangerous Dan, Mo'Funk, Cloud Rider and Motorik Vibe Council. First release tickets are currently on sale for $200 plus a $7.50 booking fee. There are only a limited number available to the public, so if you're interested you'd better jump on it quick. The Surf Lodge x Watson Bay Boutique Hotel summer pop-up will run from New Year's Day through to Australia Day on January 26, and will feature various live music and lifestyle events to be revealed in the coming month.
With beloved cult series Broad City now entering its fourth season, co-creator Abbi Jacobson is taking on a new podcast project that could push My Dad Wrote a Porno off our daily hitlist. A Piece of Work delves into the enigma that is modern art and answers questions you may have been too afraid to ask — like what significance a bicycle wheel atop a stool could possibly have, or why Andy Warhol was so obsessed with soup cans. A collaboration with WNYC Studios and MoMA, the ten-episode series will premiere on July 10 and air twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays. Each episode focuses on a different theme, from everyday objects and pop art to abstraction, performance and text-based art. Jacobson will specifically discuss individual works by big name (and at times, especially confusing) artists including the above mentioned Warhol, along with Jackson Pollock, Yves Klein and Marcel Duchamp, whose noted Bicycle Wheel will be topic of discussion in the first episode. Jacobson also welcomes a legendary roster of guests each episode, including musician Questlove, comedian Hannibal Buress, actress Tavi Gevinson and television personality RuPaul — who features in the not-to-be-missed episode six, in which they'll discuss Yoko Ono's provoking 1964 Cut Piece performance. If you're wondering how Jacobson became an authority on modern art, she actually holds a degree from Maryland Institute College of Art and has also published a colouring book series, Color This Book, and a book of illustrations, Carry This Book — in which Jacobson imagines items found in the pockets and bags of celebrities like Oprah, historical figures like Amelia Earhart and artists like Frida Kahlo and Banksy. A Piece of Work will be available on Apple Podcasts and WNYC, with a teaser and full list of themes, guests and artworks available on Entertainment Weekly. Via Entertainment Weekly. Image: MoMA.
Stop everything and find a Frenchie to flip. Instagram has finally created its own collage-creating software — yep, finally. The social media giant launched their brand new standalone app today, dubbed (rather uncatchily) Layout from Instagram. The new app lets you easily combine multiple photos into one masterpiece of a 'gram. Though it seems Instagram were a little slow off the mark with this, the Instateam have taken their time to create one genuinely great editing app. According to Instagram, one in five monthly active users are sharing images that combine multiple photos — using external apps like Framatic, Photo Collage Maker and InstaCollage and importing the photos into Instagram later. So the team decided to make their own little editor and keep things in-house. So how does it work? Super easy to use, Layout accesses your photo gallery and does most of the work for you. The Faces option shows you all the photos in your camera roll that feature people — so you can cut the crap and go straight to making hella sick selfies. Speaking of selifes, you can take countdown photobooth shots in the app, but only using the frontal camera — because YOU. Apparently 90 percent of photos in collage images shared to Instagram are of people, and 50 percent of non-collage photos on Instagram are of people. It's all about your big beautiful self-promoting faces. Once you've picked your image, you can drag and drop photos to arrange them all nice and pretty like, pinch to zoom or pull the sides of each image to tweak its size, even flip and rotate to mirror your face on your face. Like George here: Layout masterpieces can be shared directly to your Instagram or Facebook, or saved to your camera roll to access and glorious sharing later. Things are going to get freaky in your feed. Layout from Instagram is available from today for iOS devices in Apple’s App Store. It’s currently only available for iOS. Layout from Instagram will be available for Android in the coming months.
Bingo. Rave. Two ends of the spectrum of fine holiday fun finally came together in Australia this winter. Bongo's Bingo is a games night like you've never seen before. Part club, part rave, and, of course, part bingo night, this unlikely fusion event has been wildly popular in the UK since 2015. They took the show on the road, launching in Australia this June. In partnership with Wats On Events, Bongo's Bingo Down Under threw massive bingo raves at The Tivoli in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, Sydney's Paddington Town Hall and Melbourne's Collingwood Town Hall — and it went so well, they're doing it all again. Patrons can expect all of the debauchery of the original British version of Bongo's Bingo, including rave intervals, dancing on tables and a loose kind of bingo that you definitely never played with your nan (well, maybe you have). The victorious players can win everything from big cash prizes to a Hills Hoist, with a range of some absolutely ridiculous surprises on offer. Australia is the second international location for Bongo's Bingo, which recently launched in Dubai as well and, based on popularity, we imagine the event will continue to expand around the globe. BONGO'S BINGO DATES: Brisbane — Thursday, August 24 at The Tivoli Sydney — Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26 at yet-to-be-announced secret location within five kilometres of the CBD Melbourne — Thursday, August 31 and Friday, September 1 at Collingwood Town Hall Doors from 6pm and shows kick off 7.30pm. Tickets are $55 per person from bongosbingodownunder.com.au — on sale from Friday, July 4 at 4pm AEST.
About damn time, Pinterest. The global social media giant and lover all things wedding-related has joined the world of e-commerce; revealing a 'Buy It' button to allow users to shop their favourite pinned products. Revealed on Tuesday at a big ol' shindig at the San Francisco Pinterest HQ, the new 'buyable pins' have been a long time coming for the globally-celebrated website worth a cheeky $10 billion and singlehandedly dedicated to sharing pretty, pretty thingies users immediately want to hand over their dosh for. According to TIME, 50 billion pins have been added since the company's launch and 93 percent of active Pinners were keen to use the site to plan purchases — that's a genuinely gargantuan customer base eager to throw their money at someone, anyone. Plus, 80 percent of users access the site through their phones (prime online shopping grounds), so the whole thing's a no-brainer (albeit a late-to-the-party one) for Pinterest. So how does it work? After clicking on select pinned products, users will be able to scope out the price, size and colour options of their chosen Pretty Thing and select the quantity to order. You'll be able to use credit card or Apple Pay to nab your chosen item and you'll pay no additional fees. Crazy. So far, even Pinterest merchants won't have to pay commission to sell their wares — all of which makes it a little ambiguous how Pinterest will make any money out of this. We're guessing, with the recent introduction of promoted pins for big advertisers, merchant fees will be introduced down the track after everyone signs up. Pinterest will roll out the buyable pins in the US on iPhone and iPads in late June. Already signed-up merchants include Neiman Marcus, Macy's, Nordstrom, Kate Spade and Cole Hahn. We're still waiting to hear when Australia will get its mitts on the buttons. Instagram just revealed a 'buy it' button for advertisers and Facebook's apparently also working on one too. Social media e-commerce, come at us. Via TIME. Images: Pinterest, Dollar Photo Club.
Australia has a love affair with bartenders. Photographing these women and men about town, known for their prowess behind the bar and sought after for their mad mixology skills, has become quite the artform of late. Our obsession with bar teams and their unique concoctions has been realised in a nationwide competition run by Auchentoshan, dubbed Distilled Different. Twelve of Australia's best bar teams have created a cocktail incorporating Auchentoshan American Oak — the only triple distilled Scottish single malt whisky in the world. They're going head-to-head to win bragging rights, an epic photo shoot and a huge team trip to Glasgow. Before the winner is crowned, all 12 bar teams will appear in the national Dare to be Distilled Different photography exhibition. Their talented faces and creative cocktails will be captured by three up-and-coming photographers, all chosen by Art Pharmacy. We asked them how they plan to bring the multi-sensory world of the cocktail — and the unique story behind each bar team — to life. [caption id="attachment_584663" align="alignnone" width="1279"] Oli Samsom[/caption] OLI SAMSOM (MELBOURNE) Why are you excited about shooting bartenders for the Auchentoshan competition? I'm excited to bring my love and fascination of the dim, grim and classical to help represent a glorious bunch of artists in a craft pretty far removed from mine. Collaboration is king and I'm pretty stoked to make something that the teams and folks within them are all proud of. Has social media, particularly Instagram, changed the way you photograph cocktails? I try not to let mediums change how I shoot. I'm aware of little tricks and approaches that work best for the platform, but I think the devil is in trying to get a maximum arbitrary return each and every time. There's a lot to be said for doing stuff the way you feel is right, even if it means admitting the 'engagement' suffers. It's that old quality vs quantity chestnut. And really, if I wanted the most amount of engagement the quickest, I'd just be posting landscape shots and swimsuit images in alteration. If anything though, Instagram in particular has encouraged me to do what I love, which is write in my own voice. It hits sleeper followers in ways that you only find out about later. How do you think photography has played a role in making people more interested in getting to know their city's bartenders? They're more revered than ever now. It's no secret and should be no surprise to anyone that the current movement across hospitality, or anything remotely craft-related, centres on celebrating the folks behind the product. We're seeing that in mass media with cooking shows shifting spin to the makers being held up as 'rock stars'. This also goes along with the whole 'care economy' happening everywhere: a competition for who gives a shit the most — which has been a great thing for culture, tourism, the lot. We're competing on who does things best, not so much price, speed, or geographic factors. With the general standard being lifted, folks are wanting to experience more of the story of those behind the curtain, they're wanting to see that care first-hand, and enjoy that romance of skill and attention to detail. Photography plays a huge role in that. Much like photography has been the underrated force in driving the feel and magic/mystique of our favourite musicians over the years, a strong image that sets the scene for a maker, in this case a bartender, can really help cement them as a maker and give an intelligent and artistic glimpse into their world and what's involved. Take us through the process of shooting in low light — bar's aren't the brightest or easiest to shoot of places. Bars are an interesting old beast, not only are they dim, but there are a lot of competing light sources, reflections, and surfaces that are sometimes ideal as a punter in the space, but more of a challenge to represent photographically. So it becomes a mix of celebrating the light and mood as it exists through longer exposures, while bringing out the subjects with artificial light in a tasteful way. I'm a fan of subtle composites so that will form part of the approach too. What's your creative concept for capturing the bar teams you'll be shooting? With these shoots all being on location, ultimately they'll be pretty informed by the space they're set in. So I'll be keeping the focus simple, on what's driven most of my existing work: mood, stillness, and a dash of old-world. [caption id="attachment_584659" align="alignnone" width="1279"] Savannah Van Der Niet[/caption] SAVANNAH VAN DER NIET (BRISBANE) Why are you excited about shooting bartenders for the Auchentoshan competition? I enjoy the challenge of capturing people — meeting a stylistic brief but also trying to show a bit of the character in the subjects as well. How do you think photography has played a role in making people more interested in getting to know their city's bartenders? I think it's about connection. People want a human element in the imagery they see to make them feel comfortable and enticed. Photographers can use their skill to shed light on a bartender's personality. Take us through the process of shooting in low light — bars aren't the brightest or easiest to shoot of places. I generally shoot with natural light and focus more on people and food than bars. So usually I'll shoot during the day. Or I will bring my lights along. What's your creative concept for capturing the bar teams you'll be shooting? My creative concept is to focus on the personalities of the bar staff and the cocktail they will be making. I can't wait! [caption id="attachment_584661" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Brendan Fitzpatrick[/caption] BRENDAN FITZPATRICK (SYDNEY) Why are you excited about shooting bartenders for the Auchentoshan competition? Photography allows me to draw back the curtain on subjects and learn something from the time spent in their world. The science of bartending and cocktail making has a long history and a nuanced culture. The best bartenders are artists in their field. I learn a lot listening to them talk about an art crafted from a very different palette of materials from my own. Has social media, particularly Instagram, changed the way you photograph cocktails? Nothing will ever change the way I shoot cocktails. I am entirely platform-agnostic when it comes to my cocktail shoots. How do you think photography has played a role in making people more interested in getting to know their city's bartenders? They're more revered than ever now. Digital platforms have allowed businesses to communicate directly with their customers. Each bartenders and team has their own personality — I intend to capture this through this competition and share it with the world. Take us through the process of shooting in low light — bars aren't the brightest or easiest to shoot of places. The main thing to have to hand in a dark space is a light. The light banishes the dark. No matter if you're a photographer in a bar or just a civilian at home minding your own business, there's nothing like a light to get you over the line. What's your creative concept for capturing the bar teams you'll be shooting? The bars have worked hard to differentiate themselves through their design and branding. I hope some of the techniques and ideas I use will be inspired by what they've created. In broad terms I see the bar as a stage and the bar teams themselves as actors on that stage. Right now I'm researching, meeting everyone and listening to their stories. The more I understand them and why they do things in the manner specific to them, the better I can convey their unique personality in a single image.
Any self-respecting Melbourne foodie has knelt at the food altar that is Chin Chin. Now Sydneysiders will be able to feast on celebrated Melburnian Thai excellence; Chin Chin has found itself a permanent home in Sydney. After announcing the search for a Sydney spot last April, it appears the restaurant has picked a rather dramatic spot to arrive in — by taking over the ground floor of the Griffiths Teas building on the corner of Wentworth Avenue and Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills, right near Central Station. Chin Chin has been planning on a Sydney expansion for a while now. Back in April 2014, owner Chris Lucas told Good Food he was seeking the right spot. "We are looking for an old building," he said. "I’m surprised how many beautiful, old buildings Sydney has." After plenty of Sydney artist collectives, hospitality groups and property developers had their eye firmly on it, the Griffiths Teas building went up for sale last year. The Cornerstone Property Group bought it from Isaac and Susan Wakil for a cool $22 million. Cornerstone's plan is to turn the upper floors into New York loft-style apartments and give Chin Chin the street level. The property group has a thing for transforming former industrial buildings into contemporary residential and retail premises, having revamped the ex-Classic sportswear factory on Cleveland Street into an apartment block, making $37 million in the process. They also bought adjacent properties, 119-121 Kippax Street and 10-14 Waterloo Street, in 2014. Apparently Chin Chin’s Sydney escapade is still being finalised, but an architect has been employed. Watch this space. Via Good Food.
Somebody's closer. Netflix announced its Australian pricing today, officially giving the finger to main schoolyard rivals Presto and Stan. The US streaming service has officially set its pricing tiers, with entry level membership sitting at $8.99 a month — cheapest of 'em all in Australia — then $11.99 (high definition, can stream on two screens at once), and $14.99 for the big kahuna (fastest, high def 4K streaming, can stream on up to four screens at once). Pricing leaked online yesterday thanks to the snooping legends at Reddit, but was announced formally today. This pricing is cheaper than Fairfax/Nine's unfortunately-named Stan service, priced at $10 a month. But according to Fairfax, it's all about definition (because of course they'd bring that up). Netflix's lowest tier will apparently only stream in standard definition, whereas Stan's will be all up in high def. Foxtel/Seven's Presto service is sitting at $9.99 (also a big ol' one-cent-less ner to Stan), but is in the same situation as Netflix — streaming in standard def. If you're thinking of sneakily buying Netflix's US version and streaming via proxy (Who said that? Was it you? Nothing to see here.) the US prices are pretty similar: $US7.99 for the lowest, standard definition tier. Netflix launches in Australia on March 24. What's in store for users? Reddit posted this image of what you can expect from the Australian Netflix library, whether it's real or not. Hold on to your butts. Via SMH.
Peter Bibby might be based in Melbourne, but this spinner of VB-soaked yarns calls Perth home. Having recently returned from the USA (seems like Americans have a thing for earnest, self-deprecating Aussie guitarists at the moment — see Courtney Barnett), the hugely hyped crooner is about to kick off his first national tour. You can expect a damn fine show from the 'Hates My Boozin' singer — not for nothing has he played Sydney Festival, Laneway and SXSW already. Releasing his debut album Butcher/Hairstylist/Beautician in November last year, Bibby named his first release for a hidden Perth gem that brings all three businesses under one roof. So we thought we'd put his local knowledge to the test, asking Bibby to unearth five hidden treasures only Perth locals would be able to recommend. From pubs filled with kangaroo regulars to go-to guitar shops and super glam petrol station cafes, let's take a bonafide Bibby tour through Perth. MOJOS BAR "The best bar in Australia in my opinion, besides maybe Dan's Pub in Tasmania. Pool, beverages and live music on offer every night of the week." 237 Queen Victoria St, North Fremantle STRUMMERS GUITARS "To my knowledge, the best second-hand guitar dealer/repair shop anywhere near Perth. Huge range of rare guitars and equipment at very reasonable prices and run by two very lovely fellows." 811 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley MIDLAND GATE SHOPPING CENTRE "Everything you could ever hope for in a shopping centre. Likely to see some of Midlands finest scumbags on every visit." 274 Great Eastern Highway, Midland JOHN FORREST TAVERN "This little tavern is a great place to get a bit merry before you walk around a pretty beautiful part of the world. They have a resident kangaroo and there is usually native birds just hanging out inside the pub. It’s pretty legit." Park Rd, Glen Forrest VIBE CAFE "Situated on Charles Street in North Perth, the Vibe Cafe offers a range of fine delicacies at affordable prices. You can also buy petrol there." 427 Charles Street, North Perth Peter Bibby is currently touring in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane this week and next. By Jessica Surman and Shannon Connellan. Top image: Matt Sav. Images: Mojos, Strummers, Caputi Enterprises, Publocation, Vibe.
Grab yourself a pint and your groceries to go. The Henson corner pub has been a favourite of Marrickville residents since it reopened its doors a few years back — and with the recent launch of a deli and bottle shop onsite, this solid local has just made itself one highly indispensable member of the neighbourhood. The shelves of the fittingly-named Grocery and Grog are laden with gourmet foodstuffs, including fresh fruit and veggies, housemade pickles, milk, eggs, dips and preserves. Their handpicked selection of cured meats includes smoked wagyu beef, duck prosciutto and a fennel and garlic salami, while they also offer a similarly extensive array of hard and soft cheeses. If you feel like eating in, you can order cheese and meat boards at the bar, or you can opt for one of their handmade panino sandwiches. They're also hosting daily tasting sessions, the crafty devils. That's how they hook you. Oh, and did we forget to say they sell Pana chocolates too? Because that seems like something we should mention. The bottle shop is well-stocked with organic and minimal intervention wines, alongside a range of beers from local breweries. The more adventurous among you may also want to peruse their selection of bespoke spirits, ports and sherries. How fancy. Grocery and Grog is located at The Henson, 91 Illawarra Road, Marrickville. For more information visit their website. Via Good Food.
Less than a month after being cancelled due to alleged financial mismanagement, the iconic Tropfest short film festival has been thrown a much needed lifeline. On the very day that the festival was originally meant to take place, Tropfest founder John Polson has announced the event will instead be held on Valentine's Day next year, after securing a last minute sponsorship deal with CGU Insurance. "It’s incredibly encouraging to see that the Australian public and corporate community really want to see Tropfest return," said Polson, who was forced to cancel the festival after discovering what he, at the time, called "a terrible and irresponsible mismanagement of Tropfest funds." No word yet on whether the CGU deal extends beyond this year, or whether it will help Polson cover the festival's six figure debt. Details on how the money was actually lost likewise remain unclear, although it's worth mentioning that Polson is currently engaged in legal action against Tropfest managing director Michael Laverty. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that "in my opinion, we've done nothing wrong but respond as best we can to a terrible situation brought about by bad management." Polson also took a swipe at the lack of assistance from the NSW government, saying "many people have asked what has the NSW government done since this crisis…the truth is not a lot at this point." "Tropfest is a great festival, providing unique platforms for talented filmmakers through its events and initiatives, and we are excited to be able to help them get back on their feet," said Ben Bessel, Commercial Insurance Chief Executive for IAG, which owns CGU Insurance. "Supporting this fantastic cultural event is about creating a renewed opportunity for Tropfest and all those small businesses associated with the event to continue to thrive and get some business done." In recent years Tropfest has attracted a national live audience of up to 150,000 people along with hundreds of thousands more via live TV broadcast. Polson confirmed that all 16 of this year's finalists will make their premiere as planned – albeit a few months late – live in Sydney's Centennial Parklands on February 14. Trop Jr., the festival's competition for filmmakers aged 15 years and under, will also go ahead.
The service industry has really been through some things lately. 'Shake up' doesn't even come close. Crowd-sourcing, app-ification, and hyper-localisation mean that the service industry we enjoy looks nothing like what our parents knew. And the latest offering from the team behind Paramount Coffee Project, Reuben Hills and Melbourne's Seven Seeds is a testament to this brave new world. When it was announced back in August, Paramount House Hotel promised it wouldn't be a hotel in the traditional sense of the word. It won't be a glitzy chain where everything looks and feels the same no matter which country you're visiting. It aims to be an immersive local experience and give visitors a genuine slice of life in Surry Hills. And soon you'll be able to check it out for yourself — it's set to open on April 1. The hotel is part of Paramount House, which currently houses Paramount Coffee, a co-working space and Golden Age Cinema. The downstairs cafe will act as the entrance to the new hotel lobby, and a two-storey extension will provide 29 rooms. The hotel will contain a rooftop gym and outdoor cafe — dubbed Paramount Recreation Club — and a brand new restaurant from Ester names Poly. (Yes, it'll do room service.) "We hope to encapsulate the spirit of Surry Hills and offer the guest an immersive local community experience," said Ping Jin Ng, who co-owns the hotel along with Russell Beard and Mark Dundon. "We are considered but not staged, generous but not lavish and we will offer a memorable and inspiring stay — not just comfortable and slick." The vision for the hotel has been realised by Melbourne architecture firm, Breathe. You may know them for their work on Seven Seeds, Brother Baba Budan, Host, the Collingwood Arts Precinct, The Commons and Transformer. It's connected two buildings on Commonwealth Street, added a copper-clad extension to the roof and decked it out with little luxuries like private terraces and generous spots of greenery. Rooms start at $225 a night, and have a mini bar stocked with snacks from LP's Quality Meats and Tom Shobbrook wines, and Aesop products in all the bathrooms — of course. Paramount House Hotel will open to guests on April 1, 2018 at 80 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills. Bookings are now being taken at paramounthousehotel.com. Images: Tom Ross and Sharon Cairns.
It's an oldie but a goodie. Jimmy Kimmel pulled one of his most loved pranks at SXSW this week, asking punters whether they knew fake bands with his 'Lie Witness News' crew. Unknowing SXSWer after SXSwer praised the likes of Mary-Kate and Nasty, Cheese Whiz Khalifa and DJ Gluten — "hard to tolerate?" — with one punter even going so far as to describe DJ Underwire as "mixing it up with turntablism". Heh. It's straight-up baffling how Kimmel (and subsequent spin-offs) has managed to do this at festival after festival and catch starry-eyed posers in the act of posing, having pulled this stunt year after year, Coachella after Coachella. But my giddy aunt, it's fun to watch. These aren't the only shenanigans going down at SXSW. Check out our roundup of nine incredible things you're missing at this year's festival.
As if ringing in the new year isn't exciting enough, January, as always, will also bring with it the dazzling, vibrant carnival that is Sydney Festival. Turning the city into a creative playground for a full three weeks, the Festival brings a (very generous) dose of culture to the sizzling days and balmy nights of Sydney summer. Today the festival has unveiled its 2018 program — and it's an absolute cracker, packed with hundreds of events ranging from mind-boggling circus to cutting-edge theatre and awe-inspiring musical performances. Whatever art experience you're after, you'll find it in Sydney between January 6–28. While this year doesn't have an installation quite as interactive as Snarkitecture's giant ball pit or the House of Mirrors (which is currently on display in Melbourne), Sydney Town Hall will become a shrine to 50,000 of Japan's unwanted plastic toys with Hiroshi Fuji's large-scale work Jurassic Plastic. It looks like a kid's paradise but there will be adults-only nights too. Four Thousand Fish will be an immersive work where participants will help create ice sculptures of fish and then return them to the harbour to commemorate Barangaroo and the Warrane women. On stage, we ecstatic to hear that Tree of Codes will be coming to Sydney after performances at Melbourne Festival; the visually stunning ballet — which we really, really hoped would come to Australia — combines the talents of choreographer Wayne McGregor, visual artist Olafur Eliasson, musician Jamie xx and the Paris Opera Ballet. [caption id="attachment_642587" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jurassic Plastic, shot by Keizo Kioku[/caption] On the musical side of things, not only are Opera in the Domain and Symphony Under The Stars back for another year of dreamy music performed under the open night skies, there are also a host of gigs, most notably from NZ's Aldous Harding and Argentinian three-piece Fémina plus a tribute to The Go-Betweens' 16 Lovers Lane album and an otherworldly concert performed entirely underwater called Aquasonic. Five iconic Harry Siedler buildings will also host a series of talks and concerts, blending architecture and music on the program. Theatre buffs, meanwhile, should nab tickets for Barber Shop Chronicles. Offering a juicy peek into the vibrant life of barbershops across the world, this delightful show took British audiences by storm. Burlesque aficionado? Don't miss iconic Aussie boylesque troupe — and Syd Fest regulars — Briefs in all its glamorous, saucy glory in sci-fi spectacle Close Encounters. Don't miss My Name Is Jimi, where, Jimi Bani will call up four generations of his family to take you on an evening of music, dance and comedy at Belvoir. Head over to Parramatta's Circus City to catch the always-impressive Circus Oz in top form with Model Citizens, a satire that lampoons the suburban Aussie dream with impressive physicality and a foot-tapping soundtrack. Also in the environs is Highly Sprung, a soaring performance by Legs on the Wall, which tells the story of inner-city residents through the media of trampolines and other physical art forms. Punters will get a chance to have a go on the trampolines and even take part in an aerial workshop in-between shows — all for gratis. You can also sign up for a flying trapeze workshop for $49. In addition to the many ticketed events, there is also a panoply of free offerings, from art exhibitions and thought-provoking talks to interactive installations. As always the Meriton Festival Village will have heaps to offer between shows — dance to your fave song in a transparent, glitter-filled cube, swim in a shipping container pool, go for a spin on a karaoke carousel or join a 10-minute dance party in a shipping container. Whether you're in it for the inspiration, a shock, or just a whole lot of fun, this year's festival is sure to delight. Sydney, you're in for a summer treat. Sydney Festival will run from January 6–28, 2018. For more information visit sydneyfestival.org.au. By Yelena Bidé and Lauren Vadnjal. Image: Tree of Codes, shot by Joel Chester Fildes.
It was an ill-designed defence mechanism at the time of the first white settlers, then a pretty awful place for convicts. Now, one of Sydney's most historic harbour spots and recently a pretty fancy schmancy dining destination, Fort Denison has announced the return of its summer drinks and dining series, Sunday Sunsets. That's right, Sundays from now on? Fortress parties y'all. You'll be able to sail on out to Fort Denison Restaurant for Sunday afternoons of cocktails, food and live music every Sunday from November 29 until January 2016. You can book a sit-down sunset dinner at the restaurant, or play it super casual on the outdoor couches — there's a 'drinks and bites' menu that'll see you loaded up on lamb sliders, fish tacos, Alaskan crab tostadas, Sydney rock oysters, fine cheeses and charcuterie boards. Chuck in a little acid jazz and R&B from resident DJ and saxophonist Zak (a multitalented, multitasking dude is Zak), and you've got yourself a supremo Sydney date. There'll be special extended ferry services from Circular Quay, alongside shuttles from Manly and Watsons Bay. The last ferry departs from CQ at 8pm, so you can make a pretty long lazy Sunday. You'll have book though, to ensure your spot on the fortress, so check out the session times and prices on the website and lock in your spot. Fort Denison's Sunday Sunsets run every Sunday from November 29 to January 2016. Check the website for the weekly music lineup.
Easter is one holiday that can lose its sheen pretty quickly. Usually once your parents decree you’re “too old” for Easter egg hunts. But with the four-day break and eating-centred celebrations (because you fasted for the last six weeks for Lent, right?), there’s plenty to get excited for. While some venues shut, others turn on the charm. Only the best have made it into this list, our ultimate Easter Weekend itinerary. Top image: Soda Factory.
The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular returns to Sydney for its second year in 2016. After humble beginnings in Melbourne six years ago, it's now expanded to cover three cities, with the festival travelling to Auckland for the first time this year. This mouthful of a festival — which is now considered one of the best beer festivals in the world — doesn't just bring you the best in craft beer anymore, either. Creators Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone (The Local Taphouse, Stomping Ground Brewing Co.) are now representing cider and food at this behemoth as well. GABS is best known for its 120 'festival beers': specialty brews created just for the event. It gives attendees the rare chance to try brand spanking new beers while meeting the teams behind them. Really loving one brew or brewer? The People's Choice Awards allow you to have a say. In previous years, this segment has been known to launch some of the best and brightest into the craft beer scene.
Potts Point laneway anchor Waterman's Lobster Co. is in for a real overhaul this month, as owner Matt Swieboda brings the original team from Darlinghurst small bar Love, Tilly Devine back together in their newest venture. They'll be transforming their Lankelly Place digs off Orwell Street from a restaurant obsessed with the perfect lobster roll (only Maine or Connecticut style, no exceptions) to a moody, late night wine bar. Rebranded as Dear Sainte Eloise, the new venue's name is taken from George Orwell's first full-length book Down and Out in Paris and London, in which the destitute narrator prays to a photo of (who he thinks is) Sainte Eloise for enough money to buy bread and wine. "To us, this passage shows the joy that these really simple things can bring and that's what we're all about," says Swieboda. It turns out the photo in the book is actually of an infamous brothel madame, which the team saw as another sly nod to their Tilly Devine days. Dear Saint Eloise will have a strong emphasis on wine, with a whopping 350 list to choose from. "Like at Tilly, we want to over-deliver on people's expectations and show them the diverse kind of wine list you can have in a small space," says Swieboda. The menu spans from Austrian and German to Spanish and Portuguese varieties, as well as South African, Georgian, and the requisite Australian and New Zealand bottles. A section of the wine list titled 'The Less Popular But Very Delicious Wines Of The World' also includes some more obscure French varietals, along with Greek and Hungarian. The rest of the drinks menu will be paired back to keep the focus on wine, but will include a very small, four-cocktail list featuring a 'premium' Negroni using Tasmanian gin, Spanish vermouth and Adelaide's Applewood Distillery liqueurs. Joining Swieboda in this venture is a crew of Tilly alumni, from business partner Nate Hatwell (head sommelier at Mercado) and manager Jasmin Natterer (London's Sager and Wilde) to head chef Ben Abiad (co-founder Brickfields Bakery, ex-Sean's Panaroma and Mecca). Abiad will oversee the venue's two kitchens which include a restaurant kitchen and a front-of-house/bar kitchen. Menu highlights include burrata topped with smoked oil and served with charred bread to start, and a Gundooee sirloin served with radish butter and silky fennel for main. The venue will also put a focus on oysters, which they're sourcing fresh for each service from the farmers at Australia's Oyster Coast Co-op. The existing fitout will be transformed to take on this small bar persona, swapping out the outdoor seating and bright, open space of Waterman's for an indoor-only, intimate 45-seater with warm lighting and dark timbers. Dear Sainte Eloise is looking to become the next late-night haunt for the area, with the kitchen open until 11.30pm five nights a week. Dear Sainte Eloise will open next Tuesday, May 16 at 5/29 Orwell St, Potts Point. Opening hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 5pm until midnight, Friday through Saturday noon to midnight and Sunday noon to 6pm. Image: Waterman's Lobster Co.
A FREE concert by The Flaming Lips, a cardboard city with a FREE flying fox, a Birdman screening live scored by the film's drummer Antonio Sanchez, and a steamy story session with Sydney's sexiest senior citizens are all happening in Sydney this January, when the Sydney Festival turns forty. Yep, as of 2016, the city's biggest and best-loved arts shindig will be over the hill. And, by way of celebration, we're being treated to a program of truly epic proportions. Today, the organisers spilled the beans on the 157 events (including 89 free ones!), 383 performances, 34 venues, 902 artists and 22 nations that will be coming together from January 7 to 26. Let's start with The Flaming Lips. Oklahoma's most famous psychedelic alternative rock outfit will be hitting The Domain to headline the festival's legendary Summer Sounds concert, hopefully with clothes and without Miley Cyrus, and definitely pumping out their cult tunes alongside their chart triumphs. And it'll cost you zero dollars. Meanwhile, SydFest is expanding to a bunch of new spots, including Barangaroo Reserve and Vaucluse House. Barangaroo's new cultural space, The Cutaway, is gearing up to host one of the festival's biggest free events for the people. French artist Olivier Grossetête is inviting you to help build The Ephemeral City, an enormous, temporary urban development made of cardboard. Afterwards, you'll be able to get a damn good view of your work, thanks to free flying fox rides on a mammoth 165 metre zip line. A strong sense of community spirit also informs the theatrical elements of the festival's programming. Bursting onto new storytelling territory is a show titled All the Sex I've Ever Had, which sees a slew of Sydneysiders aged over 65 bring their experience and insight to personal stories of romance and sex. Then there's The Object Lesson, an installation/performance inviting you to join illusionist Geoff Sobelle on a journey through an absolutely enormous pile of objects. You'll contemplate every "thing that ever passed through your hands — a massive, meaningful, meaningless pile of junk that describes in debris your tiny human history". On the music front, we're excited about Cut the Sky, a powerful indigenous performance work meditating on a dystopian future and featuring songs by Nick Cave and Ngaiire. As we mentioned, quadruple Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez will be improvising a live score to a screening of Birdman (he improvised the actual score, so this will be the first and only time this SydFest score is played). And, for the first time ever, FBi is presenting its SMAC Awards as a huge festival, open to the general public. Other gigs on the schedule include the inimitable Joanna Newsom at the Sydney Opera House launching new album Divers, underground rock trio The Dirty Three and Mexrissey — a Mariachi-style revamping of songs by Morissey and The Smiths. There's also a new folk series happening amongst the gorgeous acoustics of St Stephens Uniting Church. As usual, Hyde Park's Meriton Festival Village is delivering a whizz-bang array of music, comedy, cabaret and circus acts, while About an Hour is heading back to Carriageworks for another season of 60-minute, $35 events featuring theatre, dance, music and storytelling. Clear your calendar, this is going to be a busy summer. Dive into the entire Sydney Festival program at the festival website. Image: Todd Spoth.
The four time number one on the World's Best Restaurants list is headed to Sydney Harbour. Rene Redzepi, owner and head chef at Copenhagen's two Michelin starred eatery Noma, will fly his entire team (including 35 chefs and 30 wait staff) more than 16,000km around the world for a ten week Australian pop-up due to kick-off in late January. You'd best start saving your pennies now though, since seats at the restaurant are expected to cost upwards of $400 a head. According to a post on the restaurant's website, the Noma Australia project was inspired by their five week pop-up in Tokyo earlier this year, which Redzepi called "the greatest learning experience of my life." The chef has been sighted in Australia a number of times over the past few weeks, meeting with local producers and sourcing ingredients for the restaurant. "Australia has always drawn me in; its great cities, its generous people, and of course its ever-present sun," wrote Redzepi in his online statement. "But what really boggles my mind is the differences you find in its landscapes and ingredients, because honestly I have never seen anything like it." Supported by Tourism Australia and property firm Lendlease, Noma Australia will be located on the ground floor of the Anadara building on Wulugul Walk in Barangaroo. The restaurant will serve just 50 people per sitting, and will be open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. The menu itself is yet to be finalised, although Redzepi has said he'll be leaving his regular ingredients back in Copenhagen, and told Good Food to expect locally-inspired dishes made with shellfish, sea succulents and native herbs and spices. As for how much it'll cost you? While a final figure is still being decided, Redzepi estimates a meal at Noma Australia will cost somewhere between $400 and $500. Don't expect that to deter people though. Bookings at the similarly expensive Tokyo pop-up sold out in just hours, with the restaurant eventually racking up a waiting list of over 60,000 people. Sydney bookings will open later in the year – so if you're keen (and rich), we highly recommend registering your interest online. Via Good Food. Image: cyclonebill cc.
The Museum of Contemporary Art's Artbar has become a firm fixture on Sydney's after-dark cultural calendar. For the uninitiated, Artbar combines art, music, design and performance for a huge adults-only art party on the last Friday of every month, curated by a different artist each time. This month, the event will be held a week early, and comes under the direction of artist and musician Tina Havelock. Havelock is best known as a drummer in notable Australian post-punk 90s bands including The Mumps but, in recent years, has put her creativity into interdisciplinary works that employ sound, performance and video. For Artbar, Havelock has chosen to throw an all-night gig in the gallery. There'll be live music from Aussie rock bands Pinch Hitter, White Knuckle Fever, Frumpus and The Mumps, a dance performance from Melbourne's Chunky Move and, of course, a dance party on the MCA rooftop. Of course, you can also wander around the current exhibition of works at the MCA for the 21st Biennale of Sydney.
The good folks at Assembly are expanding. Soon, you’ll stepping straight from their cocktail-conjuring treehouse into an Italian restaurant. As faithful Assembly-goers know, the crew likes to do things just right. So, they’re bringing in an iguanadon-sized, handmade woodfire oven, all the way from Italy. Plus, they’ve invited none other than former Da Orazio Pizza & Porchetta chef Nick Pulcher to create the menu. Just some of the yummy, yummy dishes he’s come up with are: fresh burrata cradled by heirloom tomatoes, Spanish onion, roasted capsicum, olives and basil ($19); tagliolini al nero di sepia – housemade, black-ink tagliolini sautéed with crab meat and prawns ($26.50); costolette di agnello — lamb cutlet raised on New South Wales’s rolling pastures and served up with green pea puree, baby carrots and caramelised Spanish onion ($33.50); and that delizioso classic, panna cotta ($12). Chef Antonio Buonomo will be staying warm next to the oven, where he’ll whipping up an immoveable Napoli-style feast. You can get stuck into his pizzas in the restaurant or in the bar, or take them home. Among the deliciousness on the list you’ll find margherita — San Marzano tomato, mozzarella fior di latte, parmesan, basil, olive oil ($18); quattro formaggi – buffalo mozzarella, mozzarella fior di latte, gorgonzola, smoked provola cheese, fresh basil, olive oil ($24); and salumi – San Marzano tomato, mozzarella fior di latte, ham, mild salami, hot salami, Italian sausage, basil, olive oil ($25). Some might find Assembly's Regent Place location strange for a small bar, but we reckon it’s a great escape from the CBD’s madness and fast food chains, when you don’t have time to travel further afield. The interior is a bit of a paean to the many forces shaping international design. If you use a knife and fork to eat pizza (you heathen!), you’ll be wrapping your hands around Italian cutlery. Some of the crockery, all the concrete lights and the marble table come from there, too. Meanwhile, other bits of crockery were made in France and Denmark and the tiles are Espanol. Digging the timber that the tables and chairs are made of? It’s all recycled, eco-friendly stuff from Tassie. Find Assembly restaurant at 488 Kent Street, Sydney from Wednesday, February 17. Head down for lunch and dinner seven days a week. The bar opens from midday daily.
If you want to know what it feels like to have Siri laugh at you, ask them to search for "small garden hideaway with excellent food, drink, music in Sydney's CBD". Once you've done that, head back here so we can give you what you want. Since I Left You, the 21st-century city speakeasy nestled in a heritage-listed storehouse in the centre of Sydney, has announced another chapter of The SILY Sessions. The once-monthly sessions are live gigs, but not as you know them. This month, you'll catch Sydney's Kieran Morris alongside Queenslander Bri Green on the The Garden Stage. But rather than spending the day being elbowed in the face at varying intensities, the performance is small — 50 people max — generally acoustic and includes antipasti and special cocktail offers. The gig takes place in SILY's courtyard which is transformed into a 'tropical oasis' for the occasion. With only 50 tickets to each session, you'll need to clamour for seats. Once you're there, though, relaxation, fine food and great music are all that need concern you. For those left out in the cold, each performance is recorded and available for purchase. Plus there's always next month. Take that, Siri.
Cider isn’t just a summer thirst quencher. Turn the stove on, throw in some spices and in just ten minutes you can wrap your gloves around a toasty hot beverage that makes mulled wine seem tame in flavour. Packed with fruits and spices like nutmeg, star anise, cloves and cinnamon, mulled cider gives your tastebuds a tasty kick on a cold winter night. INCREDIBLE MULLED CIDER by Jamie Oliver The recipe calls for clementines but if you can’t find them mandarins make a suitable alternative. It takes less than ten minutes for the flavours to infuse and the punch to warm up. Plus with oranges, clementines and pomegranate — you could even help stave off the dreaded winter cold... but that’s probably wishful thinking. SLOW COOKER HOT SPICED APPLE CIDER by mykitchentreaty.com Four spices, four hours. This recipe couldn’t be easier and the extra brewing time fills the cider with flavour and the kitchen with an inviting, spicy aroma. The fun bit is sticking the cloves in the whole oranges, which not only looks good enough for an Instagram snap, but could also ease the stress of a day that deserves nothing more than a glass of hot mulled cider. HOT BUTTERED APPLE CIDER by bonappetit.com Winter is no time for diets. That’s what we’ll tell ourselves as we’re stirring up all the butter and brown sugar that goes into this sinfully good recipe. It’s a time to add a little extra layer for warmth and what better way to do it than with this eye-rolling, tongue-out taste explosion in a mug. There’s a little lemon squeeze in her too for some subtle zest. Top Image: Dollar Photo Club
Listening to Moses Sumney is a distinctive and unique experience — like floating on a dark cloud with a silver lining, or teetering on a razor's edge between euphoria and melancholia. Armed with nothing but a guitar, a loop pedal and his ethereal pipes, Sumney creates a soft vortex of swirling melodies and rolling rhythms that seem to draw the audience into his world, and away from the corporeal. Fresh from a UK tour and a collaboration with The Cinematic Orchestra, Sumney is bringing his collection of soulful musings to Sydney Festival for a single night on Saturday, January 14. What's more, he'll be performing in St Stephen's Uniting Church on Macquarie Street. When every song is an experiment of the soul, you know this is one gig worth checking out. This is one of 15 next-level events to see at Sydney Festival. Check out the whole list.
Ivan Orkin is a self-described "Jewish kid from New Jersey", but he's really an innovative star chef. You may recognize him from that one noodle episode of The Mind of a Chef. If you don't, all you need to know is that David Chang is a huge fan of his soup noodles. The new-school ramen chef will be joined by Dan Hong (Mr Wong), Mitch Orr (ACME), Ben Sears and Eun Hee An (Moon Park), Federico Zanaletto (LuMi) and Pasi Petanen (Cafe Paci), who are all dishing up their own versions of ramen. If that's not enough, Sydney's resident cool guy Andrew Levins will be providing the tunes for your rave. This event is one of our top ten picks of Good Food Month 2015. Check out the other nine. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
New local indie short film festival Freshflix is back for spring with more great films and food to ring in daylight savings. Created by budding entrepreneurs Jess Hamilton, Claudia Pickering and Laurs Guthrie, Freshflix started earlier this year in a backyard in Freshwater with the aim of showcasing local and international indie films, visual arts and live music. Head to the 4 Pines Brewery Truckbar in Brookvale on Saturday, October 15 to kick back to the blues beats of The Realmers, munch on Truckbars' signature pale ale pizza pies and, naturally, drink 4 Pines brews — not to mention watching a solid dose of some kickass new films. Highlights from their spring film selection lineup include Spill, a film about power dynamics in the marble collecting craze of West Meadows Primary School (or, you know, every suburban Australian primary school ever), Big City, a film about a Melbourne taxi driver and his passenger, and The Plover, a cartoon about a plover standing in the way of Henry Arthur Henry achieving his hopes and dreams — namely, jumping on Angie Primarano's trampoline. And if all that isn't enough to convince you, your Freshflix ticket even comes with a free zine by local artists and free popcorn. Sold. Can't make it to Brookvale? Don't worry, Freshflix will be coming to a secret Redfern warehouse on Friday night.
Picture this: you’re settled in for the night with your penne and personal tiramisu, pyjamas so fluffy it’s like wearing a cloud and none of your shitty housemates are home. You’ve got a tight lineup of trashy shows ready to go and a fat glass of wine in hand, but something is off — there’s not enough wine. There’s not enough wine in your glass, blood or on the television. There’s some wine on Masterchef, there’s demure wine on The Bachelor and there’s hardly any wine in Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. All that’s about to change with Baptism of Fire, a wine-making reality show that pairs amazingly with indulgent nights on the couch. Mojo Wine is once again bringing us Baptism of Fire, a reality web series that pits team of amateur winemakers against each other for the glory of the win (and $10,000 prize money). If you want to take it further than simply watching the wine be made, you can even make the wine yourself — Mojo is looking for entrants now, and the only catch is you can never have never been employed in winemaking (recreational wine drinking, however, is fine and recommended). The experience is fully paid for and, we would guess, involves a fair whack of delicious wine-tasting. The competition traverses the entire process that turns not-at-all fun grapes into a so-much-fun bottle of wine with a cute label. The six teams of two will design and market their wine and the winners receive the chance to take their brand further — what this literally means, we're not 100 percent, but it is an opportunity to drink wine for ‘educational’ purposes on a weeknight. Bring it on. To apply for Baptism of Fire, check out the website.
The world's most famous scientist and the alleged inventor of gravity, Stephen Hawking will deliver his first ever Australian lecture at the Sydney Opera House in April. Addressing audiences from the University of Cambridge via video conference, the internationally renowned cosmologist and theoretical physicist will discuss both his life and the big questions of science. Whether he has any theories about the new season of The X-Files still remains to be seen. Hawking's contributions to modern and popular science are unparalleled. His research into black holes and the Big Bang Theory helped deepen our understanding of the universe, while his book A Brief History of Time has sold more than ten million copies. He's also kind of a boss, as seen most recently in his interview with John Oliver on Last Week Tonight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8y5EXFMD4s The physicist’s life was recently immortalised in the film The Theory of Everything, for which lead actor Eddie Redmayne won an Academy Award. Of course, the most noteworthy thing about that movie for most people was the revelation that, despite the accent of his computerised voice, Hawking is actually British. The Sydney lecture is part of the Ideas at the House series, the Opera House’s ongoing program of talks, panels and presentations. The 73-year-old Hawking will be introduced by his journalist daughter Lucy and fellow theoretical physicist Paul Davies. An Evening with Stephen Hawking takes place on Sunday, April 26 at 8pm. Tickets start at $69 from here. Image: Lwp Kommunikáció CC.
While many venues are gunning for the #minimalist look nowadays (you know the one — white walls, polished concrete floors, industrial fittings and a deconstructed menu), we're delighted to report that the recently relaunched tavern The New Britannia remains faithful to its historic bones, daggy pizza joint roots and underworld ancestors. A cornucopia of odds and ends, locally-sourced dark timber and dim tavern lighting, The New Britannia pulls together elements from its previous life as a working class Sydney pub — including a few ghost stories, ask the owners. Seriously, they had to burn sage in the space after a few spooky occurrences — the pub's apparently seen more than one murder in its day, and according to the South Sydney Herald, it's the pub where corrupt cop Roger 'Dodger' Rogerson had a cheeky beer in 1981 before shooting Sydney underworld boss Warren Lanfranchi nearby in Dangar Place. Now at peace with the undead, the bar's new custodians are the young and hungry bespoke hospitality collective the Idle Group. They've built up a reputation around their other venues, the Neighbourhood in Bondi and Henrietta Supper Club, and are delivering the goods at The New Britannia too. The site previously housed the beloved but undeniably daggy Millennium Bar Pizzeria and the kitchen fitout remains, so the menu is packed with pizza options (tip: most of them are weird). Try the 'Uncle Randy's Big Brisket Delight' — brisket bolognese with mozzarella — part pizza, part pasta, all delicious. Another other menu highlight worth your time is the burgers. 'The Dodger' burger (named after our aforementioned dodgy mate Rodger 'Dodger' Rogerson) is the hero of the menu and made with a juicy beef pattie, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, onions and pickles. And get this, the bar menu also offers a chip butty (remember those? They're back!) made with white bread stuffed with crunchy beer battered chips, house butter and tomato sauce served with pickles. Sweet carby Jesus. If that doesn't pique your interest, we're really not sure what will. The New Britannia has an unpretentious, blue collar vibe and a reasonable menu that could smother the hunger of even the filthiest miner, dragging a pick back from a day of heaving ho, and we couldn't be happier (or hungrier). The New Britannia is now open at 103 Cleveland Street, Darlington. Open Monday to Saturday 12pm-12am and Sunday 5pm-12am.
Horse racing has copped a fair bit of criticism over the last few years, and with the internet bringing to the table new and fun ways to throw money away (Kim Kardashian’s phone game, eBay and this wonderful device) why would a sane adult waste time on fascinators and animal cruelty when you could, you know, go to the pub and bet on where exactly a Shetland pony will lay a turd? This is an elaborate way of saying that The Vic is putting on an anti-Melbourne Cup day event that defies the nation's obsession with watching horses race and gives birth to a new obsession: watching them crap. The ‘Shitting Shetland’ game is, um, exactly what it sounds like. A live Shetland pony will spend the afternoon in its own VIP fenced off area, marked with a grid. Punters can buy a square on the grid and at the end of the day, the square with the most horse poop on it wins the kitty. The rest of the takings will generously go to the NSW Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Trust, a charity that helps rehabilitate former race horses. It’s… it’s… well it’s actually genius and sweet and a little weird in a good way and probably stinky and sounds so much better than paying through the nose for a watery champagne in a plastic glass at the race track. They’ll also be donating to the same charity through drink sales, which is a hope-4-humanity moment if ever we’ve seen one. Here’s hoping this idea catches on in pubs and malls across Australia. The Shetland Shitting contest will take place at The Vic, 2 Addison Rd, Enmore, on November 3 from 1pm.
Buying a bottle of wine after 10pm has been a thing of the past for the last 18 months in Sydney, but at what cost or gain? In a move certain to trigger many a heated debate, the NSW Office of Liquor and Gaming is reviewing the statewide 10pm time restriction on takeaway sales of alcohol. Introduced in February 2014, alongside the Sydney lockout laws, the ban applies to all sales of alcohol in all areas — including pubs, bottle shops, clubs, hotels, venues and even online stores with delivery. The law's stated goal was to “reduce alcohol-related violence and anti-social behaviour in the community", but what's the actual impact of the 10pm cut-off? A debate-ridden 18 months later, the Office is taking a close look at the ban’s impacts, both positive and negative. Investigators are considering not only whether or not the ban has reduced violence but also its influence on revenue for venues selling alcohol. The review will take place in two stages, beginning with regional areas, before moving to metropolitan areas. As part of the consultation process, stakeholders were invited to lodge public submissions. Among the seven received, three came from individuals or independent businesses, while the other four came from the Liquor Marketing Group, the Liquor Stores Association (NSW), the NSW/ACT Policy Alliance (NAAPA) and the Shoalhaven City Council. According to The Liquor Stores Association (NSW), the ban has led to reduced revenue, increased unemployment, a rise in aggressive and intimidating behaviour from customers, and loss of business to cross-border towns. The Association quotes the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research to demonstrate that alcohol-related public assaults have been decreasing steadily since March 2009, suggesting that recent decreases cannot be directly attributed to the ban. “We do question whether the blanket measure was necessary in the first place,” Michael Waters, the Association’s executive director, told the ABC. However, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is calling for the ban to be maintained. And, according to crime statistician Dr Don Weatherburn, a nine percent reduction in assaults between February and December 2014 is a result of the ban in combination with other alcohol restrictions. “It’s helped reduce assaults across the state as a whole outside the Sydney entertainment precinct,” he said. Keen for a good takeaway longneck in the meantime? Head to Sydney's ten best craft beer bottle shops or head to these online stores to get 'em delivered — all before 10pm, of course.
There's a brand new Italian-focused eatery in Balmain, sitting within Darling Street's beloved Cricketer's Arms hotel. One Ford Street has opened within the recently refurbished pub, with chef Sam Bennett (ex-Bourke Street Bakery, Glebe Point Diner) running the kitchen. An intimate, 50-seat restaurant, One Ford Street is being pitched as a 'neighbourhood eatery' with a communal, Italian vibe. Accessed by a separate entrance hidden from the main Darling Street, the restaurant will bring Bennett's culinary skills and influences from his recent Italian trip to Balmain, with a focus on housemade produce and seasonal ingredients. Think handmade pasta, pickled olives, cured meats. “Having just returned from a year long working holiday in Italy, I was inspired by the big, simple flavours and beautiful ingredients," says Bennett. "I really want to bring a style of cooking based on what I was seeing in regional Italy and interpret that here in Australia — non fussy, casual feasting food using amazing, fresh produce." Bennett's serving up one innovative-sounding menu, from chopped veal cipriani and pizza crusts ($16) to just-cooked tiger prawns with sugar snaps and caramelle ($26). If you're just keen to see what the guy can do, you can go truly Italian-style with the 'Trust the Chef' options. Want to tackle One Ford's Italian wine list? You'll be in good hands if you're feeling a little intimidated; Front of House manager Fabio Dore (of Popolo in Rushcutters Bay and former winner of Gourmet Traveller's Maitre D of the Year award) has curated a wine list spanning all the Italian regions. There's also Italian craft beer on offer, so prepare for an education. With an outdoor courtyard filled with hanging baskets, pot plants and Mediterranean-inspired greenery, the restaurant is just one element of the Cricketer's refurb, after publican Tim Condon (responsible for The Three Weeds in Rozelle, The Riverview Hotel and East Village Hotel in Balmain) snapped up Balmain's former Monkey Bar and rechristened the pub with its original name. One Ford Street behind The Cricketers Arms Hotel at (you guessed it) 1 Ford Street, Balmain. Open Wednesday and Thursday for dinner, Friday and Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday for lunch. To book, call (02) 9818 4232.
Consider this brow quizzically raised. The City of Sydney is looking to lift the ban on no less than 62 public alcohol-free zones — including areas of Redfern, Newtown, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Waterloo, Alexandria, Erskineville, Rosebery and Darlinghurst, according to The Daily Telegraph. Huh? Wha? Yep, these are the very same suburbs that Mike Baird and Barry O'Farrell's controversial laws have prevented you from buying booze after 10pm. But buy a bottle of wine early? You can drink it on the street. Apparently, rather than being a street party invitation, the move is being put into place for two reasons. Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the City of Sydney council stated yesterday that the decision was made after statistics showed the booze-free zones have only had a minor effect on crime. Alcohol-free zones cover public roads, footpaths, car parks and laneways. The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the lift is to the benefit of Sydney's homeless population — allegedly forced into unmonitored alleyways by the zones. Booze-free areas, Labor councillor Linda Scott told the Tele, have "criminalised those sleeping rough, and often fail to prevent problems they are seeking to address." Obviously, NSW Police aren't psyched. According to Nine News, police think the alcohol-free zones discourage and prevent "crimes such as malicious damage, stealing, offensive behaviour and acts of violence." Police Association of NSW's Scott Webe told Nine, "Removing alcohol-free zones makes the job of local police in these areas more difficult." Of course, a large majority of the public is on board — because drinking in public. City documents snavvelled by the Tele reported that when the City proposed the removal of the alcohol-free zones, they received 146 responses — with 80 percent for the removal. According to the report, "The majority of the objections received related to the view that drinking did not necessarily always lead to anti-social behaviour and that the creation of zones in residential streets and parks is infringing on the ability of citizens to responsibly drink an alcohol beverage in a public place." Via Nine News and The Daily Telegraph. Image: Wiki.
Vivid Sydney is officially upon us, ready to light up the night for another year. From May 26 through to June 17, the city will be flooded with colour and sound – along with a couple of million punters. Every bloody year, we're paralysed with indecision as to where the hell to start chasing the Vivid lights. We put together a handy guide to this year's light precincts, from Taronga Zoo to Darling Harbour. Consider it a highlights package. Literally. By Tom Clift and Jasmine Crittenden. ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden is taking its Vivid participation to a whole new level this year. For a start, there's Electric Forest, a tableau created by a collaboration between art, design, animation and music students. If you don't get lost there, prepare for the shock of five massive eyeballs staring straight at you and, beyond that, the more joyful Sunflowers, which, unlike the eyeballs, are kind enough to bow when you pass by. You'll also get to meet Rowi, a rare species of kiwi, and her baby, who are made of light globes and wear night-goggles. Yep, this is probably Vivid's whackiest site. TARONGA ZOO At Taronga Zoo, take a stroll among a bunch of over-sized, illuminated sculptures of animals. Think Jurassic Park, but less scary. You'll be given a wristband that powers interaction: prepare to be eaten by a Port Jackson Shark, get to know a Sumatran Tiger, see life from a turtle's perspective and find yourself surrounded by a swarm of bees. On top of that, a small number of tickets will be sold for the cable car experience. It's pretty awesome at the best of times and takes on a whole new dimension during Vivid. The only catch is that, unlike most of the festival's light events, the zoo's isn't free. Your best bet is to buy a ticket online in advance. THE ROCKS You'll scarcely be able to move in The Rocks this Vivid without stumbling across one installation or another. Visitors can hop, skip and jump their way across an LED hopscotch grid (Electric Hopscotch), peer through mysterious windows into worlds heretofore unknown (Portholes), send a letter to a stranger via a light-up postbox (MailboX), and make beautiful music using a 3D projected keyboard (MUSIC|box). Cap off your night with a visit to MCA, where the façade will come to life courtesy of Organic Vibrations, a major new projection work created by local artist Julia Gorman and French art-collective Danny Rose. CHATSWOOD In Chatswood, you'll find yourself wandering through a futuristic city, where Blade Runner meets steampunk. Head to the Interchange to feel small again, staring up at Voxelscape, an epic, spacey installation made up of 9000 glowing spheres, and to let off some steam at Gear Shift, an interactive projection that imitates a 19th century engine. You'll also find yourself looking heavenwards in Chatswood Mall, where a sparkling canopy leads you to Crossword, which sends out mysterious messages. If you're visiting during the day, check out Light Bounce, a refractive forest at Chatswood Chase. Meanwhile, The Concourse is hosting Future City/Smart City, a utopian community that's both airborne and sustainable; and, beneath it, you'll discover Steampunk Waterworld, a kind of industrial Atlantis. MARTIN PLACE Creative legends Motti+Smith are taking care of Martin Place this year. And, with the help of Stagekings and Paper Moose, they've turned it into DeepForest, an enchanting oasis that combines light with food. Hovering above the whole scene is Atmos, an extraordinary display of ribbons inspired by Aurora Australis. UrbanTree, which was a hit last time, is back with version 2.0, this time promising to carry you into a exotic ecosystem, where you'll meet a massive glowing frog. Lux Populi is a tree of a different kind, assembled out of a kilometre-long piece of neon rope, with branches ten metres above the ground. Meanwhile, expect to see Lloyd Rees Fountain transformed into a glittering, refractive wonder. BARANGAROO Watch where you're walking at Barangaroo this Vivid, lest the earth suddenly open up and swallow you whole. Illusory floor projection Trapdoor 'reveals' a cavernous world beneath Sydney's newest harbourside destination, with animations that pay tribute to the precinct's industrial history. Other standouts include A Day in the Light, a synaesthetic light and sound experience that recreates the various different phases of light that occur over the course of a day, as well as You-niverse, an inverted floating pyramid at Exchange Place where projections correspond to a number of Spotify playlists. DARLING HARBOUR A 60m x 40m wall of water provides the canvas for what will surely be one of the most spectacular projections at Vivid Sydney this year. Devised by Ignatius Jones and Peewee Ferris, Magicians of the Mist incorporates fireballs, lasers, music and LEDs, along with 12 massive pumps throwing 28 tonnes of water per minute into the air above Cockle Bay. At nearby Tumbalong Green, 32 beams of light will paint patterns in the sky, while animated waves crash down on the room of the Australian National Maritime Museum. CIRCULAR QUAY Last Vivid, Circular Quay was home to the to the world's largest interactive light display. This year, they're breaking their own record. In Dreamscape, visitors will use a touch-sensitive 3D model to control lights and projections on buildings around the Quay, as well as a one kilometer stretch of the Cahill Expressway and the eastern face of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Then of course there's the Opera House, which this year will be illuminated Audio Creatures, an audio-visual tableaux featuring images of pulsating sea creatures, vibrant bird plumage and iridescent plant-life.
Most people don't expect to feel particularly in touch with nature when they're standing in the middle of a shopping centre. And yet that's exactly the kind of feeling the team at Flower Child Cafe are hoping to inspire. Opening this week within the walls of Westfield Chatswood, this cafe, eatery and indoor garden is the brainchild of Chris Lu, formerly of Bondi Hardware and co-founder of Happy as Larry Pizza Truck, and Adam Choker, former manager at The Grounds of Alexandria. "I wouldn’t say I’m a big shopper or enjoy spending time in shopping centres. They all seem very unnatural," says Lu. "We wanted to bring the beauty of the outdoors inside...we want our customers to enjoy our amazing service, delicious food and lose themselves to where they are and the experience." The space was designed by Acme & Co, the same team behind the incredible interiors of The Grounds and Archie Rose. Customers will find terracotta tiles and a suspended garden bed, along with an open-plan kitchen meant to add a touch of theatrics. Ex-Merivale chef Nik Jovicki is responsible for the menu, which features dishes such as French toast with banana mascarpone, dark chocolate crumb, fresh berries and salted toffee, and prosciutto and asparagus soldiers with poached egg, buffalo mozzarella, tomato powder and burnt butter hollandaise. Flower Child Cafe also sells cakes and pastries delivered daily from The Grounds. For those who like to do their shopping early, it's a great addition to Chatswood's ever-growing dining options. Flower Child Cafe is open 9am - 5pm daily (and until 9pm on Thursdays) and can be found in Westfield Chatswood. For more information, visit their Facebook. Images: Nikki To.
It was announced in May, that acclaimed New York artist Spencer Tunick would be returning to Australia this July to stage another famed mass nude photograph as part of Chapel Street Precinct's Provocaré Festival of the Arts. It has been 17 years since Melbourne's first taste of the polarising artist's work, when 4500 naked volunteers posed for a snap near Federation Square as part of the 2001 Fringe Festival. Tunick then photographed around 5000 nude people in front of the Sydney Opera House during the 2010 Mardi Gras. Since then, he's photographed the public painted red and gold outside Munich's Bavarian State Opera, covered in veils in the Nevada desert and covered in blue in Hull in the UK. Now, the artist is returning to our shores, and his sights are set on Melbourne's Chapel Street. Tunick will assemble another contingent of naked (and pretty brave) folk between July 7–10, for a work titled Return of the Nude. The exact locations were, until recently, a secret, but this morning it was announced that the artist had intended to stage the hero shot on the Prahran Woolworth's rooftop carpark against a Melbourne skyline backdrop at 9am on Saturday, July 7. Plans have, however, come to a standstill as Woolworths has declined access to its rooftop carpark, quoting 'potential loss of trade' as its reasoning. A spokesperson for the supermarket giant told news.com.au, "we will always put the convenience of our local customers first" and "the request for the photo was for the weekend, which is the busiest time of the week for shopping in our stores". In response to Woolworth's decision, the Chapel Street Precinct Association (CSPA) — the festival's host organisation — has launched a petition in an attempt to put pressure on the supermarket chain and get it reversed. You can sign the petition here. John Lotton, CSPA's executive chairman, said in a press release: "[CSPA] undertook detailed reconnaissance before approaching Woolworths to ensure Spencer's installation would not cause a detrimental impact to trading in the store. We have photographic proof that only four cars used the carpark at this time on a Saturday." While the location of the hero shot is being debated, the rest of the shoot will still take place somewhere in the Chapel Street Precinct. And, if you'd like to participate — anyone over the age of 18 can git their kit off and get involved — there's still time to register. Participants each get a print of the photograph, and, we're sure, a big boost of body confidence. Provocaré will take place across the Chapel Street Precinct from July 5–15, with Return of the Nude being shot over two days between July 7 and 10.
With the end of the year come lists in which we can wrap up 12 months into a neat little package, and 2014 thankfully has been an uncommonly good year for publishing. Some of the most interesting and articulate books published in recent memory emerged in the last 12 months. What follows is our selection of some of the some of the best. Read them deeply, and furiously, with all the extra sunlight the summer affords. A GIRL IS A HALF-FORMED THING BY EIMEAR MCBRIDE A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing follows an insistently insurrectionary young girl from childhood in rural Ireland through to her mid-twenties. The book has acquired the beginnings of its own literary mythology: it took Eimear McBride six months to write and nine years to find a publisher. In short, it’s a book that does what it does with complete indifference to the needs of the book market. And that makes it utterly unique, and a heretically, dangerously beautiful book. The story loosely follows the young woman’s relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour. But the plot is not as important as the mode of expression. The language, while difficult to compare to anything else, is forceful, jagged, bearing close resemblances to the writing of Samuel Beckett and James Joyce. The result is a book that tears you apart, which feels completely and overwhelmingly necessary. Get A Girl Is a Half Formed Thing from Booktopia. THE EMPATHY EXAMS BY LESLIE JAMISON The Empathy Exams is arguably the best and most culturally pivotal collection of essays published in recent memory. Beginning with the author’s experience as a medical actor, paid to perform symptoms for medical students and then grade their responses, Jamison’s essays focus on how we understand the pain of others: how, and if we should, care about one another, the ways that empathy can be tested, how we confront pain both real and imagined. In writing which is both precise and vulnerable, Jamison’s essays in The Empathy Exams cover poverty tourism, bewildering marathons, reality television and incarceration, the fundamental thesis of which is that we are experiencing a very specific cultural moment: an urgency compelling us to feel. Get The Empathy Exams from Booktopia DEPT. OF SPECULATION BY JENNY OFFILL Jenny Offill’s second novel, Dept. of Speculation charts the course of a steady and then gradually precarious marriage through curious fragments of prose. The narrator, like the writer, lives in Brooklyn, falls in love, marries, has a child (it being Brooklyn there is both yoga and bedbugs). Over the course of the marriage there are jobs and dinners and sleepless nights; the plot is not really the point here. What makes Dept. of Speculation important is the language — gorgeous, enthralling, moving quickly while it commands your attention. I read Dept. Of Speculation in one sitting, over three hypnotised hours. When I got to the end of it I crept into the bedroom, nuzzled against my boyfriend who had been quietly checking his email, and wept — to his immense confusion – for a solid 20 minutes. Get Dept. of Speculation from Booktopia AN ELEGANT YOUNG MAN BY LUKE CARMAN An Elegant Young Man was published at the end of 2013 by Giramondo — arguably the most interesting Australian publishing house at the moment — with a particular interest in supporting literary culture in western Sydney. An Elegant Young Man does precisely that, imbuing the streets of Liverpool and Penrith with the poetry of Dylan Thomas and the dark ennui of Dostoevsky, but going further than that, making something uniquely his own, a distinctive literature to reflect contemporary Sydney. The book comprises eight interlinked stories, all narrated by 'Luke', who hails, like Carman himself, from the suburb of Mt Pritchard. Luke is adrift, unsure whom he represents, shifting between bluster and hesitation in a place where the lights from police helicopters wake children from their sleep, where kids in gang wars crush the roses on the front lawn. An Elegant Young Man deserves to get Carman much more attention than he has so far been afforded. Get An Elegant Young Man from Booktopia THIS HOUSE OF GRIEF BY HELEN GARNER On Father’s Day 2005, near the town of Winchelsea in rural Victoria, a car ran off the road and plunged into a dam. Robert Farquharson, the man driving the car, escaped unharmed. His three sons — who he was in the process of returning to their mother, from whom he had recently separated — they all drowned. The ensuing court trial spanned the best part of the decade, resulting in three life sentences for murder. This House of Grief presents the theatre of the courtroom: how we grapple with truth, what justice looks like, what a person means by their words and by their actions. Helen Garner is without question one of Australia’s greatest living writers, and arguably our best writer of nonfiction. And this book is some kind of masterpiece. Get This House of Grief from Booktopia THE BLAZING WORLD BY SIRI HUSTVEDT The Blazing World is Siri Hustvedt’s sixth and newest novel, returning her to the territory of New York’s art world. The story is set in the years before and after 9/11, and follows an ageing, brilliant, occasionally unruly artist named Harriet Burden, who orchestrates an elaborate hoax on the art world she entitles ‘Maskings’. Over a period of five years she holds exhibitions of work using the 'masks' of different practising male artists to expose the art market’s gender bias. The hoax is eventually revealed. Mayhem ensues. The Blazing World is pieced together from multiple sources; there are critical essays by art scholars, interviews with art dealers, reviews of exhibitions, diary entries and written testimonials. It is without doubt one of the most innovative and unsettling books published in the last year. If you are interested in art, in women, in New York, then, please, read this book. Get The Blazing World at Booktopia THOSE WHO LEAVE AND THOSE WHO STAY BY ELENA FERRANTE In September the third book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series was published: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. For those who are new to Ferrante, it’s best to begin at the beginning, with My Brilliant Friend. The Neapolitan books (of which there are an uncertain number, although so far three have been published) follow the story of a life-long friendship between two women, Lilia and Elena, growing up in an impoverished neighbourhood in 1950s Naples. Their lives converge and diverge, and in doing so they encompass personal truths about family, friendship between women, desire, and the political and economic realities of Italy and the rest of the world as it stumbled through the mid-20th century. Ferrante’s writing is sinewy, scaldingly direct. Her books ransack you. If you aren’t reading Elena Ferrante you are missing out. Get Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay at Booktopia WHAT WE SEE WHEN WE READ BY PETER MENDELSUND Peter Mendelsund’s What We See When We Read is a friendly and shyly philosophical, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading — precisely how we visualise stories from reading words on a page — from one of America’s very best book designers. It explores a simple but confounding question, one the author wrests from literary theorists and transforms through beautiful imagery redolent of X-Acto knives, drawing tables and the very best design books you can find. It’s fascinating, beautiful and filled with news you can almost use. Get What We See When We Read at Booktopia READ HARDER: FIVE YEARS OF GREAT WRITING FROM THE BELIEVER EDITED BY ED PARK AND HEIDI JULAVITS Read Harder collects some of the finest essays from the last five years of The Believer magazine, which, it’s reasonable to argue, is one of the best magazines anywhere. Read Harder features articles by Nick Hornby on his first job explaining England to Korean businessmen, Kent Russell on self-immunisers in Wisconsin, Molly Young on the Hollister experience, Rebecca Taylor on her time acting in no-budget horror movies and Francisco Goldman on the failings of memoir to deal with personal tragedy. “If you sincerely investigate it, every detail hides reason, and any environment is far more sophisticated than our senses can appreciate,” former Washington Post reporter Monte Reel writes in a survey of Victorian explorer manuals. This is the sentiment that unites the pieces in Read Harder, in what amounts to a primer for the best contemporary non-fiction writing being written. Get Read Harder at Booktopia 10.04 BY BEN LERNER 10.04 was arguably the most ‘hyped’ book of the last year. Lerner, ordinarily a poet, published his first novel, Leaving The Atocha Station, in 2011, and 10.04 takes off where that book leaves off. 10.04 inhabits a weird liminal zone between maybe-true and maybe-not-quite-as-true. The narrator bears every resemblance to a writer who has published the same short stories and poetry in the same magazines as Lerner. 10.04 isn’t strictly a work of fiction; it’s much more interested in the changes in cell metabolism or air pressure or whatever it is that turns life into art. Sometimes it can feel a little like a big practical joke at the reader’s expense. But if you want to know where the English language was at in 2014, 10.04 is the book to read. Get 10:04 from Booktopia
Think enjoying a pint and making a difference are mutually exclusive activities? Think again. Thanks to The Good Beer Co., the next drink you knock back could help save the world — or at least the Great Barrier Reef. The Good Beer Co. is Australia’s first social enterprise beer company, with a mission to match nice drinks with nice deeds. The company aims to pair the nation's top craft brewers with worthy causes — as their maiden beverage demonstrates. That'd be the aptly named Great Barrier Beer, as brewed in Bundaberg by the local legends at the Bargara Brewing Company. Once it hits the shelves, they'll donate 50% of the profits to the Australian Marine Conservation Society. To get to that point, though, The Good Beer Co. needs your help, which is why they're launching a crowdfunding campaign. You can assist them with brewing, distributing and promoting the Great Barrier Beer, and with startup costs to get established and roll out the idea to other great causes. Backers will enjoy the warm and fuzzy feeling of supporting something good, as well as the chance to taste the tipple before anybody else. You'll also get the opportunity to have a say in future recipes, labels and causes. So if you like beer and are keen to help the planet, it really is a win-win situation. After all, who doesn't want to put their beverage consumption to good use? For more information about The Good Beer Co, visit their website. Image via Dollar Photo Club.
Planning on heading away over the Easter break? You better get your skates on, because the best places are filling up fast. Luckily Airbnb have got plenty of cool and quirky listings for people in need of a holiday. Whether you're organising a group getaway or want something a little more intimate, here are ten awesome spots we reckon are worth a look. DRIVABLE FROM SYDNEY BYRON'S BRAE, POSSUM CREEK Located roughly twenty minutes inland from Byron Bay, this massive property boasts spectacular views, a pool and pool house, five bedrooms, two kitchens and a firepit. It's not cheap, but damn is it pretty. RIVER SHACK, BAR POINT A great spot for an adventurous couple, this luxurious cabin on the Hawkesbury River can only be accessed by boat! Once you're on solid ground you'll find comfortable accommodation including a bedroom, kitchen and indoor/outdoor living space, complete with outdoor fire and two-person hammock. BUSH PARADISE, MT TOMAH Gaze through enormous floor to ceiling windows at the breathtaking beauty of the Blue Mountains. This stylish cabin on the edge of the national park includes a spacious living area, fully equipped kitchen, and even has its own resident peacock, named George. DRIVEABLE FROM MELBOURNE W-CLASS TRAM, LAURISTON An hour drive from Melbourne, this rustic cottage backs onto Lauriston forest and comes complete with its own tiki bar, undercover BBQ area and W-Class tram. That's right, a tram, one that has been carefully converted into its own separate two-bedroom unit. Between that, the main house and a vintage caravan, there's room here for up to nine people. BINAH GUESTHOUSE, GLENBURN This charming two bedroom guesthouse in Glenburn, Victoria sells itself as the perfect bush retreat. The private deck provides you with uninhibited views of the natural landscape, before you venture out to explore the neighbouring Yarra Valley. YARINGA, KENNETT RIVER Why choose between visiting the beach and the bush when you can do both? This three bedroom holiday house on the Great Ocean Road sits on stilts on the edge of a eucalyptus forest, with views overlooking the ocean. DRIVEABLE FROM BRISBANE ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY, FERNVALE With 360 degree views of the secluded Brisbane Valley, this five bedroom property in Fernvale seems like the ultimate place to relax. Laze about in either one of the two sun lounges, or go for a paddle in the heated outdoor pool. If you're in a more recreational mood, you can also go fishing in the nearby Brisbane River. COUNTRY CREEK RETREAT, COOROY This one bedroom house surrounded by rainforest and rolling hills looks absolutely gorgeous. Enjoy a cookout under the stars, or go hang with platypus and turtles at the nearby billabong. BRIGHTON KITE SHED, BRIGHTON Spacious and modern, this studio apartment in Brighton is located right by the seaside, and just twenty minutes from the centre of Brisbane. It's also only a quick walk to Sandgate village, replete with shops, restaurants and cafes. NEEDS A FLIGHT PRIVATE RIVER VALLEY SUITE, UBUD For those of you with a bit more disposable income, why not try jetting off to Bali. Located around thirty minutes out of Denpasar, this luxury retreat is 200m from the beach and includes a plunge pool, private outdoor bathtub, four post queen bed and an in-house chef. Don't act like you're not tempted. NZ ARCHITECT'S HOLIDAY HOME, WAIHEKE ISLAND This ultra-modern lodging on Waiheke Island near Auckland was recently shortlisted for the NZ Home of the Year Award. After snooping around the Airbnb listing, it's certainly not hard to see why. If it weren't for all the surrounding foliage, you'd think you were holidaying in the not too distant future. THE BOOT, TASMAN, NEW ZEALAND Why bother visiting the Lord of the Rings set when you can spend your entire holiday living in a fairy tale? Describing this one bedroom lodging seems a little bit redundant. You're not blind. It's a boot. You shouldn't need us to tell you why that's awesome.
On the morning of the launch of Vivid 2018, Fratelli Fresh is opening an emporium at Darling Harbour. The epic space will offer, well, everything — from Mecca coffee and Sonoma baked treats, to Neapolitan pizza and tiramasu, to masterclasses and $5 happy hour negronis. If you've time to hang around, claim a table in the waterfront beer garden that's dotted with citrus and olive trees. If not, grab some pasta and run. There'll be room for more than 550 diners and drinkers in the light-filled 1100-square-metre venue, which you'll find opposite the Chinese Gardens. It's split into a bunch of spaces, each of which is dedicated to various dining styles, cooking stations and bars. There's also an adult-friendly games corner, where you can play ping pong, jenga, shuffleboard and foosball. As usual, Fratelli's classic red and white Italian aesthetics apply. The menu features both Aussie producers, including Vannella Cheese and Salumi Australia, and world-famous Italian brands, like Baci chocolate and Campari. Feast your way through pizzas, pastas, salads and rotisserie meats before hitting the dessert bar, loaded with tiramisu, tortas, panna cotta, biscotti, sfogliatella (a filled pastry from Campania), hand-made truffles, chocolate bars, cannoli and gelato. On Tuesdays, it's time for all-you-can-eat pizza and, on Thursdays, for $20 endless antipasti boards. In the on-site vinoteca you can explore more than 80 Australian and Italian drops. Otherwise, choose from the by-the-glass wine list or from a bunch of Goose Island (US) craft beers. There's also an entire bar devoted to Campari, which will offer a whopping seven spritzes and six negronis on-tap. To celebrate the opening, Fratelli is giving away KeepCups to the first 2500 coffee customers, which will then get you $1 coffees for the following 30 days and $2.50 coffees thereafter. Useful if you work in the area. Moreover, anyone buying brekkie during the first 30 days will also score one-buck coffee (the blend used is roasted specifically for Fratelli by Mecca). The emporium opens tomorrow morning with a bunch of launch weekend happenings, including live music and free tastings by Mecca, Sonoma, Vannella Cheese, Ross Hill Wines, Campari and Goose Island. After that, keep an eye on the calendar for masterclasses, workshops and gastronomic adventures. This new opening is Sydney's eighth Fratelli Fresh, and follows Rockpool Dining Group's announcement that it will open a new outpost at Manly Wharf in August this year. The group has certainly made good on its promise of rapid expansion. Fratelli Fresh will open at 7am on Friday, May 25 at 2/14 Darling Drive, Darling Harbour. It will be open from 7am till midnight, seven days a week. For more info, visit the website.
As if Sky Zone could clock up any more awesome points, they've gone and launched a brand new indoor climbing wall. Well, about 30 new climbing walls. With disco lights. Sky Climb is the Alexandria trampoline park's newest adventure, the first indoor climbing course of its kind in Sydney. Think LEDs, Tetris-themed walls, adrenaline drops and jumps. Now, you can get the experience of outdoor rock climbing, without the whole plunge-to-your-doom possibility of real abseiling. There's over 30 different climbing walls of varying difficulty and light-up disco-ness, but if improving your upper body strength and being able to burl "I'm king of the freakin' world!" at the top of each climb weren't enough, there's a couple of insane-sounding extras. Alongside giant bubble climbs and circuit board-themed walls, there's something called the 'Sky Slide', 'Sky Climb' or the 'Leap of Faith', in which you jump from an eight metre height. Brave stuff. With disco lights and big jumps added to the climbing experience, it's clear Sky Zone are trying to make the sport appealing to those who aren't about to abseil off the Three Sisters anytime soon — think first dates, work team bonding exercises, you this weekend. "We need to shift the mindset that climbing is an extreme sport," says Sky Zone's marketing director, Caroline Ryan. "People are amazed to realise that anyone can do it once they have a go." There you have it, harness up and give it a crack. Just don't take any cues from smug, harnessless cats. Sky Climb launches from Thursday, September 17, with a VIP launch on Wednesday, September 16 at Sky Zone Trampoline Park, 75 O’Riordan Street, Alexandria. General climbers, one hour of climb time will set you back $18pp. The ‘Leap of Faith’ or ‘Sky Slide’ is an extra $5pp. Bundle packages are available. More information and tickets available over here.
Art Month 2016's program has landed — and, boy, does March look better already. It will be the first festival under new artistic director Barry Keldoulis, and while favourites like Collectors' Space and Art at Night will return, some new ideas will be thrown into the mix as well. One of these is this year's feature exhibition, which is designed to give an artist's insight into art and the art world. Titled Green Eyed Monster Eating its Own Tail, it features the works of Tracey Moffatt, Tom Polo, Heath Franco, Grant Stevens, Elvis Richardson, Gordon Bennett (aka John Citizen) and PJ Hickman — and gives some perspective on this very cultural landscape in which Art Month exists. "A key start point for the exhibition is the general suspicion of the wider public in regard to the insular nature of the art world and the idea promoted by the media that the art world is elitist," Keldoulis told us. "The role of Art Month is to overturn these assumptions, and this is an exhibition that explores these ideas in an engaging and often humorous manner, succinctly saying visually what may take hours to try to explain verbally…Why not ask artists themselves for insights into the insecurities, the ego bolstering and bruising, the delights and disappointments of seeking brand-name recognition in a simultaneously supportive yet competitive environment?" But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Art Month 2016 will kick off on Tuesday, March 1, when Beau Neilson opens the doors on a party at Eveleigh Creative Precinct. Visitors will head into a never-before-entered warehouse and discovering performances. Then, it's time to get stuck into the Art at Night part of the program. On March 3, head to Alaska Projects for a twilight tour through the East Sydney precinct; on 10 March, follow the Paddington and Woollahra night trail; and on 16 March, make tracks to Chippendale and Redfern. Between 7pm and 10pm after each event, Cake Wines will be running the official Art Bar nearby, providing drinks, live music and performances. Check out the rest of the Art at Night program over here — it's all free. Throughout the month, there'll be exhibitions, open studios, experiences, tours and talks galore. Hit Marrickville on the weekend of March 5-6 to visit 53 studios, galleries and artist-run initiatives — you’ll get to see artists doing their work, and chat to them about it. Get to Newtown on Saturday, March 12 by 10.30am to join Culture Scouts on a walking tour revealing the best of local street art. Jump on yer bike to join ARTcycle tours, which will be happening in various neighbourhoods every week. Wanna find out what's going on further afield? Curated bus tours will be travelling west, north and east. Meanwhile, Collectors’ Space is taking over an unoccupied house. We don’t know where yet — the venue won’t be announced until mid-February — but we can tell you that you'll be getting an insider's look at collections belonging to Sally Dan-Cuthbert, Courtney Gibson, Danny Goldberg and Jasper Knight. When you're ready to sit down and hear some wise words about art, grab a seat at a talk. On Thursday, March 3, City of Sydney public art consultant Barbara Flynn, curator and artist Glenn Barkley, Jess Cook of 107 Projects and artist Lindy Lee will get together to discuss how Sydney works as a creative community – and market. On Wednesday, March 9, hang out at The Bearded Tit alongside Kaldor Public Art Projects director John Kaldor, artist and publican Emma Price, and Jeff Khan from Performance Space to discuss whether performance art is collectable. And on March 12, find out what it's like for the sprogs, when a bunch of people — including Celia Bradshaw, Evan Hughes, Maddie Love, and Anna Shapiro — whose parents are famous art figures, reflect on their childhoods. More than ever, Art Month is about Sydney — it's all about lifting the city's art scene up to the renown of our harbour and pretty landscape. "When you look at the art being produced in Sydney — the artists that make it, the galleries that show it, and the collectors and art lovers who enjoy it — it becomes obvious that Sydney is a dynamic engine of creativity and that the city is a global arts hub," says Keldoulis. "Art Month '16 aims to unpick the puzzle of how a city like Sydney operates as a generator of ideas and an engine of creativity. Art Month's program investigates the various parts that make up the functioning whole." Art Month Sydney will run from March 1-20. For the full program and more information, visit their website.
Overcoming systemic discrimination, both in the music industry and society more broadly, Indigenous hip hop artists are the vanguard of an exciting new era of Aussie hip hop. In the words of politically-conscious rapper Briggs, star of the ABC's Cleverman and Black Comedy: They're growing up fast, they're growing up tough, They're giving back everything they never got as a pup, And if they want something, you're giving it up, If they want something, you're giving it up. It's tempting to say that Indigenous hip hop is undergoing a renaissance of late, but it wouldn't be entirely accurate — the scene has been strong for years, it's just that now it's finally starting to get the attention it deserves. One initiative responsible for this greater recognition is Klub Koori, a regular showcase of emerging and established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians produced by Koori Radio. So, before they storm the stage on Thursday, July 7 at Carriageworks and with NAIDOC Week in full swing, we thought we'd introduce you to some Indigenous artists who are coming up fast and coming up tough. Oh, and they do want something: the throne. JIMBLAH Hailing from the Larrakia Nation in the Northern Territory, Jimblah sums up the paradox of 'traditional' (read: predominantly white) Aussie hip hop when he raps: "I see your fans, they're a bunch of racist kids, so who's to blame?" While there are few examples of overt racism in the local scene there is a definite racist undertone — so much so that those paragons of Aussie hip hop Hilltop Hoods felt compelled to write a whole song about it. Jimblah's fiery pull no punches lyricism — highlights include: "Australia just look what we made here/From slave ships to Great Britain's blood on their hands/Understand the royal fam, flying the flag/Unlawfully stands a generation unlawfully here" — has seen him garner significant critical acclaim. LADY LASH A Kokatha/Greek woman from far western South Australia, Lady Lash is a generic anomaly. Combing equal parts jazz, hip hop and soul interwoven with powerful storytelling, her music pushes sonic boundaries in profoundly beautiful ways. Having taken out the Victorian Indigenous Performing Arts Award for Most Promising Act and The Age Music Victoria Award for Best Indigenous Act with her debut album Crystal Mercy: The Fisherman's Daughter, Lady Lash is set to release her third album Therapy Tapes later this year. NOOKY 2016 has been an exciting year for Yuin Nation rapper and @IndigenousX host Nooky. Taking out the Australia Council Dreaming Award at the National Indigenous Arts Awards not only came with prestige but also a very tangible $20,000 grant towards developing his debut album. Signed to Briggs' label Bad Apples Music and having collaborated with Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas (after a chance encounter and cypher at The Block in Redfern), it's safe to say that his debut album is being hotly anticipated. It seems as though it's only a matter of time before Nooky blows up, so get on board early. TASMAN KEITH Splitting his formative years between inner city Sydney and Bowraville in the bucolic Nambucca Valley, Tasman Keith's music reflects these contrasting locales, combining sun-kissed beats with an effortless flow and lyrical dexterity reminiscent of early '90s East Coast hip hop. Having burst onto the scene in 2015 with his debut single 'B You', Tasman, the son of legendary Australian hip hop pioneer Wire MC, pays homage to his Gumbaynggirr heritage while epitomising the thoughtful, soulful sound that seems to be emerging in the local scene. At just 18 years old, Tasman Keith is definitely one to watch out for. Klub Koori is happening at Carriageworks on Thursday, July 7 at 7pm. Tickets are just $10 +BF.
Electra is a strong contender in that favourite of reality entertainment: Ancient Greece's Most Depressing Families. MinusOneSister focuses for once on the fact that these are kids trapped in a cycle of love, hate, murder andrevenge. And what simultaneously astounding and average children they are: Electra (Kate Cheel), full of panache and paranoia; Chrysothemis (Contessa Treffone), the diplomat/doormat; abandoned Orestes (Liam Nunan), the avenger; and Iphigenia (Lucy Heffernan), who's off to die before she's probably even developed hips. It's no wonder the story continually grips writers with its blood-soaked fingers and ends up on stage. "They fuck you up, your mum and dad," wrote Philip Larkin, and they do it ad infinitum. Most of the time when adults try to speak from the perspective of children, the result is twee at best. Anna Barnes' script is an exception — written exactly in the cascading fashion a 14-year-old would describe to you Sophocles' Electra. It is captivating writing, which won the STC's Patrick White Playwrights' Award in 2013. Luke Rogers' direction and staging, and the preparedness of the quartet of performers, seals the success of this world-premiere production. The turns of phrase are unpretentious and unexpected, inasmuch as they manage to completely bullseye the story's core with innocence that other renditions lack. MinusOneSister really nails the way kids manage to deal with death and loss (the "there, but nots"), the way kids see through adult euphemisms, and the way poor Orestes needs to prove himself to his three big sisters, so they'll finally see him as more than "a human cat to dress up". The design, by Georgia Hopkins, is effective, with a sense of timelessness. Electra, Iphigenia, Chrysothemis and Orestes exist in a whitewashed limbo. They are the last remnants of the Agamemnon family's deceased estate. Fittingly, Sian James-Holland's lighting is cool and alienating. LCD lights on the floor recreate the quintessential childhood experience of trying to peek into the grown-up world from the crack under your door. Cheel, Heffernan, and Treffone form a very strong sisterly collective, at times appropriately sidelining their brother, the "baby CEO". Each of the sisters is gifted a strong, nuanced monologue by Barnes, to convey their leaps between contemporary dilemmas and ancient plot points. MinusOneSister really had me thinking about the difference of age when childhood trauma hits. When their dad died, Chrysothemis was a little girl, but Elektra an adolescent. Was it just chance that Electra never forgave Mum? Probably not. MinusOneSister is a beautiful take on teenage reality. The proficiency of its writing, direction and ensemble acting amount to an enjoyable new reflection of the Electra story.
Amateur home brewers have a brand new toy. Arriving in Australia earlier this month, the WilliamsWarn Brewmaster is an in-home brewery that produces a high quality beer in just seven short days. Dubbed "the Nespresso of beer," the Brewmaster is the creation of Ian Williams and Anders Warn, and was originally launched in New Zealand back in 2011. Since then the device has generated a whopping $4.5 million in sales, and helped two home brewers take home gold medals at international beer competitions. According to their website, the WilliamsWarn Brewmaster "has six main technical features that, when combined together, create the world's first all-in-one brewing appliance." The brewery is capable of producing up to 23 litres at a given time, which can be consumed directly out of the draft beer tap, or transferred into bottles or kegs. Starting at more than $6,800, the home brewery isn't exactly cheap (although depending on how much beer you normally drink it could actually end up saving you money in the long run). WilliamsWarn also sell ingredient kits, with everything you need to produce a variety of different brews from Pilsners to Apple Cider. The WilliamsWarn Brewmaster is currently available online and at select Australian retail outlets. Via Executive Style.
Merivale is expanding faster than our belts can handle. Justin Hemmes' heaving hospitality empire has announced the opening date and details of the newest member of the Merivale family: the Newport Arms Hotel. Or rather, The Newport. A Northern move for the city-dominant group after opening J&M's whisky bar, the revamped Ivy Pool and The Paddington in the last months, alongside renovations for the Queen Vic Hotel, Merivale's acquisition of the Pittwater hotel is a bold decision for Hemmes — and one that explains why he didn't jump on the sale of the Manly Pavilion. A landmark property of the Northern Beaches since 1880, the Newport Arms will be officially reopened as The Newport by Merivale in on Good Friday, March 25 — and we actually can't wait to see what Merivale do with the place. Good Friday will see the unveiling of the backyard wizardry and hectic landscaping that's been done on Australia's largest outdoor waterfront beer garden — all by landscaper Daniel Baffsky. According to Merivale, the grounds will be "a sprawling estate that evokes a sense of nostalgia" with flowering shrubs, jacarandas, wild cacti, succulents, Chinese elms, plane trees, crape myrtles and date palms. The actual Newport building will be the next to be revealed, drawing on influences from Montauk, The Hamptons and Mediterranean and designed by Kelvin Ho and Emilie Delalande (Akin Creative), stylist Amanda Talbot and Justin and Bettina Hemmes. In classic Merivale-style, there'll be multiple, eclectic, themed spaces to drink and dine in (and take in that view), with natural stone paving, locally-made furniture and plenty of marble. The Newport will also feature a 'vintage gymnasium' with badminton, exercise bikes that can charge mobile phones (!) ping pong tables, a giant magnetic scrabble board, outdoor petanque and concrete table tennis courts. Food-wise, expect a range of different unique noshing experiences, with executive chef Sebastien Lutaud behind the wheel. There'll be 'The Burger Shack', serving up grass-fed beef burgers and classic fish and chips, alongside a cafe filled with Australian meats like smoked brisket, barbeque chicken and hot-smoked salmon, seasonal salads, smoothies, gelato and coffee by Merivale's favourite Sydney roasters, Will & Co. Best of all, Merivale pizza guru Vincenzo Biondini will be running Vinnie's Pizzeria, featuring those insane woodfired pizzas and a huge selection of wine, beer and Sydney-centric cocktails. Live music is also a huge focus at The Newport, with an expansive alfresco deck custom built to showcase local talent, seven days a week. Sunday Sundown, Merivale's free live music series, will kick things off, with Melbourne's nine-piece soul outfit Saskwatch on Easter Sunday, followed by indie duo Gypsy & The Cat on April 3, Tasmanian singer songwriter Asta on April 10 and Sydney synth-pop trio Mansionair on April 17. The Newport is a major steal for Merivale. Following the undeniable success of the Coogee Pavilion and its Rooftop, it's likely Merivale will capitalise on the beachbound nature of the site and find a new summery theme for the hotel, overlooking Bayview, Church Point, Scotland Island and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Perhaps Hemmes will dive into the history of the place; the Arms saw boatloads of day-trippers in the 1890s (including drunken pushes — or gangs), was a tidal swimming pool in '32, had the largest beer quota of any hotel in Sydney in '54, had weekly jazz nights in the saloon bar in the '70s, was a regular shoot location forHome and Away in the '90s and has had its fair share of looting and fires over the years. There's something to be said for the Newport, it sure stands the test of time. The Newport will open at 2 Kalinya Street, Newport on March 25, 2016.
