The legendary, controversial performance artist who does 'nothing' is finally making her way to Australia, set to perform a brand new artwork. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the beloved and equally criticised 67-year-old artist, Marina Abramovic, has been invited by arts heavyweight John Kaldor to Sydney to perform a yet-to-be-revealed, shiny new work in June 2015. Famous (and the topic of furious debate) for her iconic 2010 work at NYC's Museum of Modern Art, The Artist is Present, Abramovic's work was last seen in Australia for Kaldor Public Art Project's applauded group exhibition 13 Rooms at Pier 2/3 — the work, Luminosity, which saw a naked artist wall-mounted on a bicycle seat for long periods of time (and didn't star Abramovic herself). For her mysterious new Sydney work, Abramovic will use the Pier 2/3 space herself, in one of the most squealworthy announcements for performance art lovers this side of the equator. But this isn't the first time Abramovic has been to Australia; before presenting Gold found by the artists with partner in crime Ulay at the 1979 Biennale of Sydney, the artist spent a cheeky five months with an Aboriginal community in central Australia in the '80s (and raised a baby kangaroo and cuddled this sheep). According to Fairfax Media, there's also a whole Abramovic exhibition planned for David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art next year — quite honestly, why she hasn't made MONA's acquaintance baffles us. To be fair, she's been pretty busy doing zilch for a total of 512 Hours at London's Serpentine Gallery, hangin' with Jay-Z and backing a new online school for girls with Sia, Pussy Riot, Kim Gordon, Yayoi Kusama and Yoko Ono. The artist is busy. Via SMH. Images: Complex.
Last year, Sydney's inner west got in on the openair cinema action, with Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema opening their very first inner west cinema, adding another location to their free ice cream-loving lineup of Bondi, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth. And they're back for 2016. Setting up on the lawns of Cadigal Green at the University of Sydney, Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema shows new releases and cult classics including Hollywood blockbusters Inferno, Doctor Strange, Hacksaw Ridge, The Accountant and Arrival, comedies Bad Santa 2 and War on Everyone), Oscar contenders The Light Between Oceans and Nocturnal Animals, and controversial Cannes feature The Neon Demon. The team are keeping their tried and true formula intact — live music and free ice cream nights. Local artists will hit the stage before the film for cruisy sets, including Nic Cassey, The Runaway Horses and Naomi Sequeira. There'll also be a fully-licensed bar and gourmet food stands. You can also hire deckchairs, beanbags and blankets, or go all in for a VIP Star Lounge ticket with lounger, a blanket, seat side service and a glass of wine. For the full program or to buy tickets, head to the website. Check out CP's roundup of Sydney's best openair cinemas over here.
The transformation of The Dolphin Hotel into one of Surry Hill's schmickest establishments is finally complete. First they kicked open the doors to their public bar, followed by the launch of their dining room. Now for the massive cherry on top: an intimate 50-seat wine room with its very own dedicated kitchen. Owner Maurice Terzini, of Iceberg's fame, has tapped Sommelier of the Year James Hird to take care of the Dolphin wine list, and take care of it he certainly has. Thirsty patrons will be able to choose from more than 35 wines by the glass and over 150 wines by the bottle. If you don't like wine, they also offer a selection of cocktails made with locally distilled spirits. Not sure why you've come to a wine room though. The kitchen will be headed by chef Sam Cheetham, who's created a menu full of dishes designed to compliment your drink. Think crispy sweetbreads with egg yolk sauce and guanciale, and savoy cabbage stuffed with rabbit, pork and truffle. On top of that, the wine room is also home to The Dolphin Salumeria, a salumi cabinet packed to the brim with mouth-watering cured meats by local suppliers like Continental Deli and LP's Quality Meats. The Dolphin Hotel Wine room will be open 5pm to midnight, seven nights a week. It can also be booked for private functions outside of regular opening hours. Find The Dolphin Hotel at 412 Crown Street, Surry Hills. For more information visit www.dolphinhotel.com.au. Photos by Jason Loucas.
UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 18, 2018 — As MoMA at NGV gets closer to wrapping up, the NGV has announced that it will extend opening hours so you have a few more chances to see the exhibition (if not for the first, for the second or third time). The gallery will move its regular 10am opening time up to 8.30am from September 22 until October 7, and, in the final week, it will stay open until 10pm from Thursday, October 4 until Sunday, October 7. The exhibition will also be extended for an extra day, and will now close on Monday, October 8. Not going overseas this winter? Luckily, you'll still have the chance to take a bite out of some Big Apple arts and culture, as the National Gallery of Victoria plays host to an exclusive exhibition showcasing works from New York's prestigious Museum of Modern Art. Set to run until October 7, MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art will feature over 200 modern and contemporary masterpieces, many on their first ever visit to Australia. Taking over the entire ground floor of NGV International, it's certifiably huge. The exhibition will present pieces from all six of MoMA's curatorial departments, meaning the works will span Photography, Film, Architecture and Design, Painting and Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, and Media and Performance Art. You'll catch works from all of the big names of the 19th and 20th century art world, including Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Georgia O'Keeffe, Diane Arbus and Andy Warhol. Capturing the spirit of more recent times, will be pieces from the likes of Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, Olafur Eliasson, Rineke Dijkstra and Camille Henrot. Examining over 130 years of innovation, MoMA at NGV sets out to explore all the major art movements, with the exhibition spread across eight themed sections. Here are a few of the big-name works on display. Needless to say, the partnership with MoMa is a pretty huge coup for both the NGV and Australian art lovers. "The collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria provides a unique opportunity to see extremely important works from nearly every area of our collection in an exhibition that simultaneously explores The Museum of Modern Art's history as well as the history of modern and contemporary art in general," said MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. As an added bonus, NGV members who are hitting New York while the exhibition is running will score free admission to MoMA, and vice versa.
Last time James Blake jetted our way, in 2013, he won our hearts — and eyes and ears. Two Sydney Opera House shows sold out before you could say Overgrown and the folks at Tone Deaf got so excited, they awarded him best International Tour of the Year, over Bruce Springsteen. Now, he's back with a third, full-length album, The Colour In Anything, released unexpectedly (to fans, at least) on May 6. Lasting 76 minutes, it sees Blake go more collaborative than ever before, with Frank Ocean and Justin Vernon making frequent appearances, and Rick Rubin taking care of production. "I wanted to open up and be more outgoing," he told The Guardian. "The record became a commentary on my life rather than me becoming part of the rest of the world." There's more Splendour sideshow action where this came from. Check out our list of sideshows with tickets still available.
Sydney's craft beer scene is booming, with innovative brewers taking over industrial spaces across the city from Young Henrys to Wayward, Willie the Boatman to Batch and 4 Pines. We've even crafted our own walking tour for you. But Sydney isn't the only town in New South Wales turning out some seriously good craft brews. Need an excuse for a road trip? Well, there's no greater excuse than for the love of beer, and we're bringing you the top ten NSW breweries worth a visit. [caption id="attachment_617284" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Stone & Wood.[/caption] STONE & WOOD No matter how big Stone & Wood gets — and, yes, they're massive — the born and bred Byron Bay owners are committed to remaining an independent brewery, which goes a long way in quality assurance. As locals themselves, the owners really love the region and are a super friendly, welcoming bunch. The demand for Stone & Wood led to the 2014 opening of their nearby Murwillumbah brewery, making the Byron shed a place for limited release and experimental batches — an even better reason to visit this already awesome town. You'll be lucky to grab the Stone beer while you're here, which is a tribute to the brewers of the Middle Ages and brewed using wood-fired stones which intensify the malt characters. 4 Boronia Place, Byron Bay [caption id="attachment_611387" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Foghorn Brewhouse.[/caption] FOGHORN BREWHOUSE Foghorn Brewhouse's original Newcastle location is a massive warehouse space, boasting 17 taps, live music and a full-on menu — making them not only a great brewery, but also one of the best and most popular bars in the area. This means pre-booking is ha smart choice. Their beers are on point across the board and they're constantly experimenting and putting out new brews. We recommend you include the Jumpin Jack Mash pumpkin ale, the massive Edmund Fitzgerald Imperial IPA and the 12.03 Black IPA on your tasting paddle. On the food side of things, their pizzas ($14–18) and buffalo wings ($12–20) are especially well done, as are the burgers that come on homemade buns. If all this isn't enough reason to like them, Foghorn also runs on solar power. 218 King Street, Newcastle and 2 Ilya Avenue, Erina [caption id="attachment_617285" align="alignnone" width="1920"] New England Brewing Co.[/caption] NEW ENGLAND BREWING COMPANY New England Brewing Company produces some of the most unique beer in the country, and that's before tasting it fresh off the tanks at their cellar bar. Their Uralla brewery well suits the brewers' small town, small brewery ethos, and they're one of the few using an open fermenter system which gives the beer unique, wild characteristics. The brewery is the bar's backdrop, which is pouring six brews at all times — perfect for a tasting paddle. Keep an eye out for their Hop Cannon seasonal series, which are their best beers and should be had by the pint. Apart from beer, they've also got local bar snacks, wines and whiskies, as well as a fired up pizza kitchen for Saturday lunch. 19 Bridge Street, Uralla NSW SIX STRING Six String is the first craft brewery built on the Central Coast and their beer is an ever popular facet of Sydney bottle shops and craft venues for good reason — their core range is all award-winning, which includes the Coastie, golden ale, pale ale and dark red IPA, all of which you can, and should, try at the tasting bar. The best reason to visit, though, is for the seasonal releases, many of which you can only try in Erina. They'll sort you with pop-up restaurants and food trucks as well, so you can keep your hanger at bay and enjoy the beery fruits of the Six String labour. 4/330 The Entrance Road, Erina BLOCK 'N TACKLE Block 'N Tackle is located in the most unassuming spot on the Central Coast, stuck in an industrial lot off the main road — but don't let this fool you, they're turning out some serious brews that well deserve a full tasting paddle. Our favourites are the Russian Imperial Stout, a first-anniversary release, and the English bitter, but we'd also recommend just trying the lot, as long as you have a designated driver, of course. The simple food menu features locally-sourced cheeses and dips, mezze plates and weekend pies that are great for snacking (and also for keeping the beer in focus). Thinking takeaway? They'll sort you with branded stainless steel mini-kegs. Unit 1, 11-13 Cochrone Street, Kincumber LITTLE BREWING COMPANY Little Brewing Company has been operating out of Port Macquarie since 2006 by husband and wife team, Kylie and Warwick Little, who has a degree in wine science and a background as a long time home brewer. While you can grab the Little brews all over Port Macquarie, as well as in Sydney, their small, industrial cellar door is the best spot in town for a taste. While you're here, grab the freshest drop of Wicked Elf around and make sure to try the Mad Abbot series — produced in the style of Trappist monasteries of Belgian, the brews undergo careful cellaring and you won't find them many other places. 58 Uralla Road, Port Macquarie BLACK DUCK BREWERY While you're in Port Macquarie, head down the road to Black Duck Brewery. The laidback vibe at their cellar bar could keep you here for hours with eight rotating taps to drink from, outdoor seating and daily ploughman's platters available from local producers. On the beer side, the Summer Swallow and Beach House Blonde are both summer crushers. If your road trip companion isn't much into beer, they can grab an apple cider, wine or locally roasted coffee. Those new to the brewing process should go on a brewery tour, where you get to meet the brewers behind the beer in hand. 6 Acacia Avenue, Port Macquarie MUDGEE BREWING CO. Mudgee Brewing Co seamlessly takes on the overarching ethos of the region: great drinks, great food, great vibe. The brewing is located on the site of the 100-year-old Anglican wool store and the brewery has been blessed by the church, making the beer you're drinking blessed as well (at least we think that's how it works). Two favourites to try are the Mudgee Mud imperial stout and the Smokey Red — first brewed as a throwaway batch using smoked malts, this one is a beautiful accident indeed. The all-day menu includes lunch and dinner beer pairings and it's not just your average pizza-and-burgers pub food (though they do that too) — think slow roasted pork leg ($29) paired with their pale ale. They also partner with local providores for smallgoods, from High Valley cheeses to the Kanimbla olive oil they cook with. 4 Church Street, Mudgee ILLAWARRA BREWING COMPANY A short day trip south of Sydney, Illawarra Brewing Company is a good starting point for your journey. Some of the best brewers in the game have learnt the ropes at Illawarra —including Wayward Brewing's head brewer Shaun Blissett and Stomping Ground's head brewer Ashur Hall. The operation has long run as a contract brewery, but their own brews deserve a spot in the limelight as well. For hop lovers, the small batch IIPA is a big bold style that will get your tastebuds going. Wheat beer fiends will love the Wit beer, which has notes of orange peel, coriander and citrus. It's a relaxed vibe in the Gong — the ideal spot to sit back and enjoy a nice cold brew. 83-85 Montague Street, North Wollongong HOPDOG BEERWORKS HopDog BeerWorks is an ale-only brewery — a bold move in lager-loving Australia. The choice has panned out though and HopDog is swiftly becoming one of the most popular craft breweries in the country. It's no surprise considering head brewer Tim Thomas' longtime brewing background, hailing from the likes of Lord Nelson and Five Islands Brewing Company (now Illawarra Brewing). Make sure to taste the rye IPA and Cherry Bombah — a truckload of fresh cherries went into this three-month-long, barrel-aged brew, which has bold oak and wild sour characteristics as a result. The relaxed cellar door allows BYO snacks which you can enjoy while you drink 'em down. 175 Princess Highway, South Nowra Top image: Stone & Wood.
The doors to QT Melbourne have been thrown open. You've seen it by now – it's an artisan playground. There's an interior filled with quirky spaces, lots of colourful lighting, mountains of creative furniture and loads of confronting wallpaper. As always, the most exciting thing about anything is the food. All the restaurants are now open for business, and here's what you can, and should, be eating. Pascale Bar and Grill (on the first floor) is designed to pay homage to the 'Paris-end' of Collins St. That means it's industrial chic, with a French-inspired all day bistro menu courtesy of QT Melbourne's creative food director Rob Marchetti and chef Paul Easson. Easson used to work at Rockpool, so you know the food will be good, and you'll be able to see him utilising his very own wood-fire oven courtesy of Pascale's open kitchen. Cocktails at Pascale's are inspired by the French Quarter of New Orleans – our favourite option for a cheeky drink is the Spiced Pear, made with pear-infused cognac. Pastries in The Cake Shop on the ground floor are made fresh, and served alongside 5 Senses Coffee, Tippity Teas, Mork Hot Chocolate and bottled cocktails. They're colourful and pretty as you would expect, especially because QT say that The Cake shop is made for a modern day Marie Antoinette. Finally, the cosy Hot Sauce laneway bar seats 60 people and serves Korean and Japanese inspired dishes and drinks (try the fried chicken bao). Background music will be hip hop, and you can expect rare Japanese liquors and artistic, Asian-inspired cocktails. Neighbouring Hot Sauce is Tanto, a Japanese knife store that sells expertly crafted knives made by 10th generation sword makers, and will skilfully sharpen your knives should you choose to bring them with you. Visit QT Melbourne at 133 Russell Street, Melbourne, 3000. Words: Kat Hayes and Kelly Pigram. Images: Alexandra Anderson.
In 1820, Charles Samuel Stewart referred to Australia as “a nation of drunkards and gamblers”. In 2015, it seems like our bloated state governments see this description as something we should aspire to. In a nation that wastes $20 billion a year on gambling and the like, our out-of-touch baby boomer legislators decide instead to come after the musicians, creatives and events of the late night party scene. In spite of this targeted crusade, we feel like One Day Sundays has played a role the shift towards day parties, one that has come about in the wake of lockouts strangling many venues and club nights. In a sense, the lockouts have probably helped our parties, like One Day Only happening this Saturday, November 21, as they’re predominantly day parties (and finish before lockout). But with the lockouts still steadfast in our city, it’s difficult to think of a less effective approach to the issues that the laws aim to address. The lockouts have been culturally and economically destructive and, as widely predicted, simply shifted the issues to a different late night area. Newtown has seen an 18 percent increase of violence. Violent crime in the CBD has decreased by 24 percent since the lockouts — which on the surface sounds effective until you couple it with venues reporting a 25 percent decrease in gross revenue. Many nights and multiple venues have shut down due to a lack of patronage. In other words, there is less violence because there are less people around. Despite less people being out and about in the lockout zone of an evening, police have reported amphetamine use charges have increased by 33 percent. It doesn't add up. Meaningful, lasting solutions to the very real problems of alcohol-fuelled violence are required if real change is to take place, but the lockouts were a largely political exercise; a knee-jerk reaction to moral panic that set in in the wake of a handful of tragic, unnecessary deaths. As Sydneysiders who enjoy having a good time and believes individual responsibility should trump the nanny-state mentality when it comes to civil liberties, we think the lockouts are an embarrassment for a city that likes to consider itself world-class. When you think of progressive and innovative creative hubs, you think of places like Berlin with their late night culture and limited alcohol regulation, or London’s all-night rave scene that has birthed so many genres and trends. Australia is fair way off these places in this regard — but we are catching up quickly. Through the 2000s, Australian club and live music culture really started to get an global identity, with acts like The Presets and Cut Copy exposing the world to the movement that was happening here at home. Modular was an internationally respected record label. Recently we have had acts like Flume/What So Not, Taku and Wave Racer emerging from local club land to cross the oceans, Future Classic and Laneway are international tastemakers, and increasingly Australia is looked to as an innovative and celebrated global player in the electronic music world. Putting a leash on the events, artists, DJs and promoters where these scenes grow and flourish starves innovation and stifles creativity. It's an action that screams, "Stop what you’re doing and go home." One Day Only is all about taking back control of the ability to enjoy one’s self from the various authorities who are utterly out of touch. In a practical sense, One Day Only picks up where One Day Sundays left off by giving the middle finger to the venue lockouts by starting the party earlier. We’re borrowing from the revolutionary themes of 18th century Europe as a means of expressing our frustration at being told when and where we can have a good time. Despite it sometime seeming like it’s increasingly difficult to have a good time in Sydney in the wake of lockouts and countless venue closures, all hope is not lost. By Nick Lupi and Raph of One Day. One Day Only is happening on Saturday, November 21 at Manning Bar, University of Sydney. More details over here. Images: One Day, Paul McCarthy (Wikimedia Commons), Felix Berlin.
You might know Henry Lawson's tale depicting the hard life of a drover's family in Australia's high country — it's classic Australiana. Now, Indigenous playwright Leah Purcell is turning the story on its head, reimagining The Drover's Wife as a thriller-drama with nods to both the present and past. Instead of staring down a serpent (as in the original tale), the drover's wife — played by Purcell herself – is confronted in her yard by a secretive Indigenous man covered in blood. There's a fugitive wanted for killing white people in the community, and troopers are everywhere, but there's something stopping her from turning him in. Purcell is one of Australia's finest actors and the 2014 winner of The Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright's Award, a prize which handed Purcell a commission to write this play. She joins forces once again with director Leticia Cáceres to tell this story of an indomitable woman. Characterised as "Tarantino meets Deadwood in the backblocks of 19th century Australia", The Drover's Wife is sure to be one intense, unmissable show.
Performance Space has just announced the program for 2016's Liveworks Festival and if you weren't already, be prepared — audiences don't just sit quietly in the dark any more. Liveworks is a mental crash-tackle of new and experimental artworks that runs from October 27 to November 6. Artistic director Jeff Khan says this year's goal is to cut through the numbness audiences have developed towards news and ever-present, ever-louder advertising. Ranging over a course of topics and genres, he says the selected works not only challenge audiences, but also establish deep artistic connections and "become a mirror of our own fears and desires." But you don't cut through numbness by watching Lady Gwendolen pass the cucumber sandwiches. Taiwanese artist River Lin will perform for a single person at a time, one on one, with the unnerving Cleansing Service. The work begins with each audience member being asked to identify a body part they consider physically or emotionally 'unclean'. In the ensuing performance, Lin will attempt to 'cleanse' it for them. Continuing the program's love for uncomfortable situations, Mish Grigor's The Talk invites anyone and everyone to relive some of the most excruciating discussions she's had with her family about sex. And when we say relive, we mean audience members are given a script, a glass of lukewarm champagne and the role of a family member. There's plenty more to the program this year, available at Liveworks' website. So saddle up the awkward horse and get going. Art doesn't have time to worry about how comfortable you are any more. Early Bird tickets for major events go on sale August 29 from Liveworks' website.
If catching a flick in style is your thing, get ready to plan a night out at Restaurant Hubert. The subterranean CBD restaurant and theatre is bringing back its hit Magnum & Movies series for the rest of the year, transporting Sydneysiders around the globe with film, food and plenty of wine (in magnums, of course). It'll all take place once a month in Hubert's 120-seat Theatre Royale, to really ramp up the film-meets-dinner vibe. Each evening will feature plenty of popcorn, a buffet dinner and magnums of wine, which will be passed around throughout the night. While past events have had an Italian theme, this year's group of films is a little more varied. Kicking the series off is a screening of wine-filled comedy Sideways on July 1, which will be paired with a Californian wine country-themed dinner and magnums by Chateau Marechal. It's followed by Italian-American classic Big Night on August 19. This will be served up with Cantina Giardino magnums and New York-Italian fare — we're expecting a timpano to make an appearance on the menu. Next, the latest film adaptation of British series The Trip to Spain on September 9, with (obviously) Spanish eats and Comando G magnums and then the series rounds out with cult favourite Goodfellas on October 14, with Torbreck magnums and food mobsters would approve of. Tickets don't come cheap at $130 per head — but that price includes everything (food, wine, film and popcorn) and it's the kind of decadent Monday evening out you don't get to enjoy every day. Images: Daniel Boud.
A preservative-laden candy made with rubbish meat and flavours that read like weather reports. That was the old style of jerky, and Darrell Beveridge, father of the Darling Jerky Co, says it's met its end. He's one of the new breed of dried meat revolutionaries, wrenching jerky away from its image as a cheap convenience store snack. “The old world of jerky doesn't understand," he says. "For them it was something eaten by real rough truck drivers from the service station.” Another comrade-in-arms, Brent Griffin of Griffin Jerky, has a nostalgic connection to jerky from his youth. "It was something we'd all do and feel bad about it,” he says. "I started making my own because a lot of that stuff is garbage.” He tells me this while we gnaw away on a stick of his own product, which I've just bought from behind the bar of Sydney's Arcadia Liquors, the kind of bar that's the 'service station' of new-wave, natural, handcrafted and excitingly flavoured jerky. Both Darrell and Brent want to bring their meat to Sydney's jerky virgins. One part of that is making a product that doesn’t ‘feel’ like jerky, the other part is simply making a bloody good product. DARRELL BEVERIDGE'S GUIDE TO RECOGNISING BLOODY GOOD JERKY First rule: “It has to be pasture-raised, roaming free range cattle”. Second rule: "Contemporary flavours and quality ingredients." Here's how to judge. Appearance: Every piece should look different he says, “If something looks like a Roll-Up, it's probably processed. It should look like a piece of meat shrunken down.” Texture: "You want it to almost chew like a steak. You want it to bend but not break.” It shouldn’t tear like crepe paper, having to fight a little to tear it apart is normal. If you need to gnaw for several minutes just to get a bite sized chunk, it’s too dry or too old. Taste: A good stick of jerky should have three stages of flavour. There’s the initial flavour Darrell calls the seasoning or bite that should come without any chewing. Next is the follow-through, a juicy release of flavour as the jerky softens. Last is the aftertaste. "It’s not like a chip," Darrell says; you should be able to savour it. A NEW WORLD OF FLAVOUR Darrell said when he first started making jerky at home five years ago, all the old companies were selling the same thing. “Flavour wise there was really a lot of boring flavours. It was really just original and hot," he says. "Pepper was the big spice. There was a lot of room to try different types.” Now Darrell’s making a 'pickleburger' flavour, which is as complex and layered as it is accurately burgery. He’s also experimenting with flavours like mee goreng, tobacco and ghost chilli. Brent’s main line includes chipotle adobo and a rich 'Srirachuan' (sriracha + Szechuan) flavour. In October he did a collaboration with Young Henrys where he made a real ale and toasted coriander seed batch. Another collaboration with Kakawa ended up with chocolate coated jerky. “The idea is grosser than what it’s like," he says. "It sold out really quick.” Now he’s working on a vegetarian variety. I asked him about it but it’s top secret until he nuts it out. BAKKWA, MOO DAD DEAW AND OTHER KINDS OF JERKY TO TRY Currently they’re both exclusively using pasture-raised grass fed beef but having tried and enjoyed jerkies from Thailand, China and South Africa, I asked Brent and Darrell whether they have any plans to make other varieties of jerky with different meat. Brent told me he’s experimented with pork and lamb, but nothing’s been put into production. Darrell, on the other hand, is too focused on perfection for any diversification. I decided to explore Sydney to see what else I could find. That’s how I met Jack Zhang. Jack’s the everything behind Singapore Famous BBQ Pork, a time-displaced storefront in Sydney's Chinatown. It would be barely noticeable besides the fact that it hasn’t changed in over 25 years. Jack started there as a jerky apprentice some two decades ago. Now the master makes fresh bakkwa and Singaporean-style jerky. Bakkwa is a sweeter and softer variety of preserved meat that’s air dried and then grilled over a charcoals. Jack dries and grills his bakkwa daily, but that's pretty much all he would tell me about what goes into the process (he thinks others might copy his business model). Then there's moo dad deaw, a Thai-style sun-dried pork. Chinatown's Do Dee Paidang make it in house along with a similar beef style. Unfortunately they’re not allowed to sun-dry it traditionally because some bureaucratic food prudes might complain, but that doesn’t stop it from having a delicious smack of spice. Often confused for jerky is biltong, which Stanley Street Butchery has been making since 1974. Biltong, unlike Jerky is cured in vinegar for several hours before being dried. Stanley Street serve theirs traditionally — fresher, fattier and thicker, all the better. Meanwhile, in good news for pescetarians, new Enmore bar The Gretz is doing a rotating menu of house-made jerky, starting with salmon. In Brisbane, your jerky go-to is Gypsies Wagon, who are known for their legendary Argentinian gaucho jerky. In Melbourne, head up to the bar at fancy Vue de Monde for ocean trout jerky (dine in the restaurant and you'll be treated to emu). For more down-to-earth jerky, there's the Meatball and Wine Bar's $9.50 Wagyu beef servings, which come in flavours such as Samboy (salt and vinegar) and Ninja (teriyaki). BACK TO THE REVOLUTION Despite eating enough jerky to devolve my throat into a desiccated husk, I found myself thinking back to Darrell and Brent’s revolution. How strange the two of them started at almost the same time with such similar ideas. "It's funny that we wound up both doing the same thing," Darrell says. "I mentioned it to a friend and she called it the great jerk off of 2014." You'd think they'd be fierce competitors, but they're not; they both just love jerky too much. "The longer both of us exist the better."
Actual post-gender human and girl your mum definitely warned you about Peaches has been uncharacteristically quiet recently. It’s been a good six years since her last album I Feel Cream, which featured the super danceable ‘Talk to Me’, so seeing Peaches on the Groovin’ the Moo lineup was a pleasant surprise — if pleasant could ever be used to describe the woman behind lyrics such as “hair in a mullet, you know you gotta love it, so sexual and so conceptual” and, of course, “fuck the pain away” — and the announcement of a Hi-Fi (now Max Watt's) sideshow on May 8 even better. Peaches, of course, hasn’t been twiddling her thumbs this whole time. She’s done a film, put together a book (out in June, pre-order it here, you’re welcome) and just completed her sixth studio album Rub, which features Kim Gordon and Feist, and is due out later this year (fingers crossed we get a teaser). That title though. Oh, to be able transform a fairly innocuous one-syllable word into a blush-worthy imperative. No wonder we all wanna be her. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcKMg7eEjj8[/embed]
Chef Darren Robertson's reputation proceeds him — those who do not already know how from his time at the tremendously luxe Tetsuya's or as one of the main minds, and palates, behind Australian restaurant group Three Blue Ducks, will surely recognise him as the newly appointed judge on My Kitchen Rules. With full steam ahead, the famed chef will now add yet another project to his resume — this May he'll open a new, more personal restaurant in the former site of The Hill Eatery. While still keeping the North Bondi venue's name and menu pretty close to his chest, Robertson did divulge that it will focus on his personal tastes. "The dishes will be bits and pieces from my favourite restaurants all around the world," he told Concrete Playground. He's promising pastas and a dedicated bar snacks menu, along with a lot of fresh salads and seafood — the latter fitting right in with the Bondi surroundings. Aiming to open the doors on May 15, this collaborative project will see a quick turn around, with Robertson joining forces with Ian Clark and Bondi local Cam Northway (Sweet & Chilli) only a few short months ago. Robertson has worked with Northway on several projects in the past though, and is quite comfortable with the partnership. "We're fairly similar and Cam is a very driven person, a total professional and he just has a good energy about him," he says. The duo both lived in Bondi for years (before Robertson moved to Byron), and it still feels very much like home to the chef. "North Bondi is a little neighbourhood in itself, I love the area and I always really liked this space specifically." Despite his already busy schedule, preparations for this new project seemed to just fall into place. "I wasn't planning on opening a new restaurant, but sometimes you have to just go with your gut," says Robertson. "It's never the right time — it all happened quite quickly, but it 100 percent feels like the right thing to do." Darren Robertson's new restaurant, title TBC, will open on May 15 at 5/39-53 Campbell Parade, Bondi.
Three Blue Ducks are finally open for business in their much anticipated new location — but not as we expected. Set in Rosebery's old Kitchen by Mike/Koskela Kitchen digs. But the restaurant is taking a very different shape than patrons expected (for now, at least), starting with a new dining pop-up named 'Bob'. Who is Bob, you ask? He is not a new head chef, or an experimental type of floating cuisine. Bob is actually the nickname for the restaurant's new, 540 kilogram barbecue. Owner Mark LaBrooy had this behemoth fabricated by a Byron Bay metalworker and it took 20 staff members just to set this bad boy up. The smoker is well in line with the new "'smoke, wood and char" themes that will set the Rosebery location apart from its Bronte and Byron Bay predecessors. Dishes currently on Bob's menu include charred octopus and piri piri chicken, along with wood-roasted cauliflower with pickled grapes, sumac and cauliflower puree. Bob's opening day featured a special 'Fish Scraps' dish — salmon belly and skin scorched in the woodfired oven and served with braised purple Congo potatoes. For warmer weather months, think Bob's Argentinean-style whole lamb. Patrons don't have to go the fire and brimstone route, either — the pop-up is also jumping on the recent poke trend with a kimchi and brown rice version. Bob the barbecue is joining the team alongside LaBrooy and head chef Pete MacKay, as well as co-chefs/owners Darren Robertson and Andy Allen. The pop-up will remain in place for another five months while the building becomes heritage-listed. After that time, the original concept for the TBD space, which will include full fit-out, bar and garden seating, is still in the plan. Luckily, the Three Blue Ducks crew are planning for the long haul in a space that's had a hard 2015. Bob may not be what the owners originally envisioned, but we're more than happy to welcome him to the neighbourhood. Via Good Food. Image: Three Blue Ducks.
Taking things to a whole new level of bizarre at the Biennale of Sydney, Mella Jaarsma is putting on a fashion show like no other. Alright, 'fashion' might be the wrong term to use here. But with costumes as elaborate as these, it's tempting to believe you've stumbled into some twisted couture show. From 6.30pm every Wednesday evening until June 1 head along to Jaarsma's installation Dogwalk at the Art Gallery of NSW, a 60-minute dog-walking performance filled some seriously creepy animal-skin costumes. Picking a part the bond between humans and animals, this show is definitely one to get you talking. This is just one artwork you shouldn't miss at the Biennale of Sydney. Tick off the whole list.
How much do you know about Australian Jewish culture? Jessica Bellamy (writer of Sprout and Bat Eyes) knows a lot, she’s just written a play about it, and she's preparing to cook you a Jewish dinner. It's Shabbat Dinner, an immersive play directed by Anthony Skuse (4000 Miles, Punk Rock) which looks at the place of women, family and food in contemporary Jewish culture. The play weaves in traditions and rites over the course of a Shabbat dinner prepared by Bellamy herself. As the feast is served to you and the performers, everyone becomes involved in the story. While you eat you take part in the creation and eventual disintegration of a new community. Like Bellamy's previous works, it promises to be poetic and questioning. Shabbat Dinner plays at a pop-up space in The Rocks during the Spectrum Now festival from March 24-29. Dinner is included in the ticket and vegetarians are catered to.
The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is back for its 26th year and with 49 feature films to be screened at cinemas across eight cities, you'd best prepare yourself for everything from the flirting, whimsy, mishaps and misunderstandings that come with French comedy to the passion, ennui, coming-of-age rebellion, thrilling crime and non-conformist romance that come with French drama. Highlights include: gala opening night feature Gemma Bovery, an endearing comedy starring Gemma Arterton that drops the characters of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary into a small Normandy town; the Saint Laurent biopic exploring the inspirations and struggles of the acclaimed designer Yves Saint Laurent at the height of his career; and Samba, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and star of The Intouchables Omar Sy in a cross-cultural romance that looks at the hardships faced by French immigrants. See more of our highlights in this list of top five films to see at the French Film Festival. The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is on around Australia in March. Catch it in Sydney from March 3-22, Melbourne from March 4-22 and Brisbane from March 13 – April 1. Thanks to the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, we have ten double passes to give away in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The passes are valid for one festival session of your choice (excluding opening/closing nights, special events and public holidays). To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
There's a great anecdote behind Big Poppa's. It's three guys sitting around, eating cheese and drinking wine while listening to hip hop and deciding that their current activity was a) costing them too much money — they were literally spending thousands of dollars on cheese — and b) a great concept for a restaurant. And so, Big Poppa's was born from Lewis Jaffrey, ex-operations manager at The Baxter Inn, Frankie's and Shady Pines, and Jared Merlino, owner of The Lobo Plantation and Kittyhawk. It's a two-floor ode to Biggie Smalls that plays hip hop until 3am, and serves cheese, wine and Italian food until the doors close. The restaurant is upstairs, the bar is downstairs — it has bare brick walls, candles, dark blue leather booths and the face of Biggie Smalls is tiled on the floor. It's an unpretentious space, and it's worth the wait for a table. We've partnered with KitchenAid to celebrate the launch of the KitchenAid Mini, and we asked two chefs from two of our favourite restaurants to throw a Mini Dinner party (and create a Mini Moment) for their friends. Liam O'Driscoll, head chef at Big Poppa's, former Sydney hip hop DJ (although he probably won't enjoy us calling him that) obliged. He cooked us up a three-course dinner of the simple, rustic Italian food he serves at Big Poppa's, and told us what he loves about cooking at home. He reveals his menu in advance — it's so beautifully Italian I have to research it so I know what we'll be eating. There's salsa salmoriglio, parmigiana-reggiano, pangrattato, flat iron tagliata and potato al forno. This appears on the table as globe artichokes, pasta sprinkled with cheese, a thinly sliced flat iron steak, potato with rosemary butter and a simple semifreddo nougat dessert. [caption id="attachment_592755" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flat iron tagliata with confit garlic and rosemary butter, and potato al forno.[/caption] O'Driscoll adores Italian food. "I love pasta," he says specifically, "if I was on a desert island and there was one food I could take, it would be pasta." With Italian food, he explains, less is more — it's about the quality of the produce over anything else. "It's not like French food where there are so many ingredients and complicated techniques to learn. Some Italian dishes only have three to four ingredients, so the produce is left to stand for itself." Big Poppa's isn't fine dining, it's casual dining. Produce is sourced from quality suppliers, and the food is presented in its simplest state. Despite having a background in fine dining (he just came from Pendolino in the Strand Arcade), this is how O'Driscoll chooses to cook. The preparation at his dinner party is simple, as is the service. Food is served in the pan, and friends help themselves to steak and potatoes. [caption id="attachment_592851" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Torrone Semifreddo, dulce latte.[/caption] "One of the beauties of cooking is being able to share food with the people you love," he says. "There's a communal feeling in everyone being able to dig into a dish that's on the table, as opposed to everyone having their own particular meal". Liam pulls his tub of semifreddo straight from the freezer and starts to scoop it out and serve. "When you're home cooking you just slap it on a plate," he says. "If this was a nice restaurant, I'd shape it into something. But this is rustic cooking — everyone agrees that they would like it better like this." What he says doesn't really have an impact until the next morning, when I'm sitting in a café and I look down at my breakfast. It's piece of toast that's been delicately scattered with edible flowers. While beautiful, they don't really add anything to the dish in terms of taste. "It's not about it being pretty," I remember Driscoll said. "It's about what it is." Images: Samantha Hawker.
When Stephen Sewell's The Blind Giant Is Dancing premiered in 1983, the audience felt royally slapped in the face. Now, in 2016, this wordy, based-on-true-events play is pertinent to the many difficulties plaguing Australian politics today — and it's currently showing at the upstairs theatre at Belvoir, directed by new artistic director Eamon Flack (Best Director at the Sydney Theatre Awards for Ivanov in 2015). At the play's centre is an idealist, Allen Fitzgerald (played by Australian actor Dan Spielman) who dreams of making the nation a better place, but becomes so mixed up in party power struggles, he has trouble keeping his eye — and aspirations — on the bigger, more important picture. Spielman leads a cast of 11, including Sydney actor and real-life wife Yael Stone (Orange Is the New Black) playing Louise Fitzgerald, Allen's socialist, feminist, pretty damn kickass wife. Playing an onstage married couple while you're married is one thing, but playing said couple caught up in the whirlwind of '80s Australian politics is another. So we asked Yael to get into the nitty gritty for Concrete Playground. Yael and Dan chowed down at a Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney after their Thursday matinee performance of The Blind Giant Is Dancing. They unpacked the play, character arcs, gear changes, Liberal and Labor audiences and how to act without listening — while Yael quietly nabbed all the spring rolls. YAEL: Dan, how are you feeling? DAN: Pretty buggered. The show is nearly three hours long and it cracks along. We’ve just done our first of two shows in a day, so I’ve got to think about doing that twice — and I’m really looking forward to this pork chop I’m about to eat. Today was our unwaged performance; Belvoir every season does one performance for people on a pension or who don’t have an income, so they can apply and get access to the shows free of charge and I think that’s a wonderful thing. They were a terrific audience, a lot of people that were interested in politics, particularly the crowd today because we have a lot of people who were quite vocally either against or for people in the scenes in the show. And a lot of the references from the early ‘80s I think might have brought back a few memories for some of the older people in the audience today. YAEL: In terms of a political spectrum, given the content of the play, who’s been attracted to come and see this play? Who’s most excited about it? DAN: I thought at first that it would be you know, theatregoers generally, that want to see as much as they can. I thought at first it would be mostly Labor Party people because the play is set in the Labor Party in the early ‘80s here in Sydney. But I’ve noticed quite a few Liberal Party members, ex-ministers and stuff, have come along to see the show who I think are taking some delight in watching a play about self-destruction inside the Labor Party — they’re having quite a good time. So I think across the spectrum people have an interest because it’s such a wonderful portrait of a very excessive and interesting time in Australian political history but also how resonant it is for what’s still going on today. YAEL: So your character Allen Fitzgerald has a huge process of transformation throughout the show, throughout three very distinct acts. The changes are pretty dramatic. Are you planting the seeds of change in the act before? How far ahead do you like to sow the seeds of the change? DAN: I treat each of the three acts distinctly, partly because of how its written; there are some important events that happen offstage, so they’re not in the play but they’re referred to later, that happen between the three acts, that I consider as large gear changes. But the way Stephen writes is fiendishly difficult to learn because… oh, thank you... YAEL: Thank you. My spring rolls just arrived. DAN: That’s fantastic. Because [Stephen] does sow the seeds of thoughts into scenes a long time before they’re mentioned. To clarify, you have to learn the scenes by rote. They don’t flow naturally from ideas necessarily because he’s cramming so many ideas in. YAEL: On that, we have a few particular scenes where we discovered that it was actually a really bad idea to listen too closely to the other person, because it might screw you up, which pretty much goes against all the rules of acting where really, you should be very present and listening a lot. In this play, sometimes you can’t listen, because the characters are so maniacally focused on their own point of view that to actually hook into the other side isn’t in line with the way that they’re thinking. On that, do you think Allen thinks differently when he’s engaging with Louise? Versus when he’s engaging with a political opponent? DAN: So it should be said that you, Yael, are playing Louise, Allen’s wife, in the play. YAEL: That’s right, I’m digging. DAN: So yeah, I think one of the great things about the play is that it shows a very public figure, a series of public figures in the public limelight — well, they’re kind of the back room dealings of a political party but they’re very much in a public area, and contrasted with a very private crisis that’s happening between Allen and Louise in their marriage. I think Allen wants his marriage to be a refuge from what he’s experiencing at work, but because Louise is herself a very dedicated intellectual and someone who’s trying to revolutionise her own consciousness and her own thought through feminist ideas as well as socialist ones, the home is seen by her as a place of change as well. And Allen acknowledges it and fights on that basis but it’s very difficult for him. But the language and scenarios at home are very private. YAEL: Great answer. And how do you feel about the fact that I just started the last spring roll, while you were answering that conversation? DAN: I could see what you were doing, and I wouldn’t put it past you to do that sort of thing, so I’m not surprised. But I’ve got some decent food coming for myself so… YAEL: Well, here’s the great reveal. I’m actually just going to have half of it, and leave you the other half. The Blind Giant Is Dancing runs February 13 – March 20 at Belvoir. Head to the website to book tickets. By Shannon Connellan with Jasmine Crittenden. Image: Brett Boardman.
Unfortunately for many Sydneysiders, the defining aspect of theatre is not the spellbinding performances but the daunting price tag. With tickets for Sydney's big theatre venues sometimes costing towards the three-figure mark, Sydney theatre, unlike its more government-subsidised European counterparts, can be derided as a middle-class luxury. What is the beleaguered theatre buff to do? Why, ring the Sydney Theatre Company first thing on Tuesday morning and get a ticket for $20, of course. Launched in mid-2013, the Suncorp Twenties initiative has been a great success, and thanks to the renewal of the STC's partnership with Suncorp, it's been confirmed to continue until at least the end of 2015. Even better, you can now buy the $20 tickets online, as well as using the existing methods of phone/stampeding the box office. What might you take this cheap-as-fancy-chips ticketing opportunity for? See Geoffrey Rush as King Lear, Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in The Present (it's not sold out if you go through Suncorp Twenties!), and the chilling South American thriller Death and the Maiden, and you'll come away with change from a $100. Suncorp Twenties was a labour of love for STC's former co-artistic directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, who spent their joint tenure searching for a sponsor to make theatre tickets more affordable. The partnership has now been extended beyond the initial two years, with the Suncorp Twenties tickets going on sale each Tuesday at 9am for the following week's performances. There is no transaction fee and tickets are sold in twos. Image: Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in The Present after Anton Chekhov’s Platanov, by Andrew Upton. Directed by John Crowley. 4 Aug – 19 Sep 2015 at Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay.
If you've ever strolled down the hidden Gehrig Lane, you'd surely have considered yourself lost. As of Friday, though, you won’t be wandering through Camperdown's catacombs by accident – the Wayward Brewing Company is opening its secret brewery location to eager inner westies and craft beer lovers. Walk into one of the many white-walled warehouses and you'll find yourself in a mysterious cave with serious mood lighting and rooms that seem to stretch on indefinitely. This is not your standard brewery, and better resembles the buildings roots, a wine cellar since the early 1900s. The Wayward team have maintained the waxed and wine spattered walls, which are softly illuminated, making the place feel more underground speakeasy than craft beer haven. This covert laneway location was purposefully chosen as it perfectly compliments the meaning behind Wayward: "to be lost on purpose". Owner Peter Philip and his sous brewer Shaun Blissett have been working tirelessly to make sure the brewery epitomises this quote at every turn. Sitting in the "little labyrinth" of rooms inside his secret cave, Pete explains how the values of this place really fit the brewery's vision. "[It makes patrons think] I know I'm in the middle of no where, but I'm meant to be here," he says. With 'carpe bierum' painted on the wall and a gloriously mounted motorcycle, Pete aims to epitomise this meaning. This traveller's mentality is present in the Wayward beer itself. "I still consider myself a home brewer at heart," says Pete, and the Wayward crew are "not afraid to go off the beaten track" when it comes to their beers. The Wayward flagship Charmer India Red Ale has won several awards, including the silver medal at the Australian International Beer Awards. Pete has also done some wackier brews, like Chockywocky Doppelbocky, a smoked chocolate and sour cherry beer aged in oak. Across the board, their beer is full flavoured but approachable and always inventive, which isn't surprising coming from a brewer who thinks "it's not work, making beer is just fun." The rooms themselves are furnished with repurposed material, from the vintage, '70s-style couches and tables to the theatre seating along a couple of walls and beer keg lamps hanging from the ceiling. Each upcycled item comes with a story, much like the building itself. If the dimly lit interior has fooled you, though, the open brew room will remind you what you're really here for. The bright, Wayward yellow floors and modern equipment makes this the Willy Wonka's factory of beer and are quite the contrast to the cool atmosphere of the cellar door. The Wayward team are still ironing out all the kinks, but for now the cellar door will be open weekends, with their core four beers on tap: Charmer IRA, Keller Instinct Bavarian Lager, Raconteur Biere de Garde, and FUSAMI Victory IPL. Along with artwork commissioned by a local and three rotating guest taps for local brewers, you can't get a better community hangout. So go ahead and carpe bierum. Find Wayward Brewing at 1 Gehrig Lane, Camperdown.
Sydney's controversial lockout laws look set to undergo another major test, after the owner and staff of Hugos Lounge in Kings Cross today announced they are considering bringing legal action against the NSW government in the wake of the venue's closure. The longtime Kings Cross institution revealed last week that it would be ceasing operation after suffering a 60 percent drop in revenue since 2012. Unsurprisingly, owner Dave Evans cited new licensing laws and the recent 1.30am lockout as the reason for his business' decline, telling The Daily Telegraph that the "well-intentioned but ill-informed laws" meant that "good, safe operators can't sustain their business." Owens will be joined by 70 of his former employees in a proposed class action lawsuit, the details of which will be revealed later today. In its heyday, Hugos reportedly drew in more than 6000 patrons a week, but the business has been crippled in recent times by an 80 percent drop in patronage. Owens believe revellers have abandoned Kings Cross in favour of areas such as Newtown, where the lockouts do not apply — although in a bitter twist, several venues in that suburb have recent agreed to voluntary enforce the laws in an attempt to curb a sharp uptick in drunken violence. The tough lockout laws have been credited with reducing assaults in Kings Cross by one third, although detractors believe they have simply pushed such incidents into the surrounding suburbs. Incidents of drunken violence doubled in Pyrmont in the 12 months following the law's introduction, and increased by two-thirds in Newtown. Meanwhile, Hugos is far from the first Kings Cross venue to shut its doors since the lockouts came into force. Soho, Goldfish, The Backroom and the Trademark Hotel have all ceased operation, as have Flinders Hotel and The Exchange in neighbouring Darlinghurst. The lockout laws are due to be reviewed in February 2016. Via The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph.
Neutral Bay is getting a solid dose of Sydney's undying G&T obsession with the official launch of new venue Tonic Lane this Saturday, June 11. Part cafe, part 'ginoteria', the restaurant is kicking it with the locals, boasting a menu of all-Australian gins and tonics. This shiny new North Shore small bar is a co-creation of Lain Tapsall (ex-Bourke Street Bakery) and Julian Brenchley (Channel 9's The Block). They're serving up all-day cafe fare and some pretty stellar sounding gin cocktails. The cocktail list, titled 'The Dirty Seven', is gin focused, of course — the G.E.M Martini uses Fourty Spotted gin, vermouth and elderflower, while the the Purple Rain tribute cocktail combines West Winds' Sabre gin with orange bitters, cucumber and lemon. They're also doing a requisite Negroni, but their version adds a good helping of Melbourne Gin Company to the classic mix. Their expansive spirits menu includes over 25 Aussie-made gins, from VIC's Four Pillars Gin and Tasmania's Hobart No 4 to local legends like Archie Rose, Poor Toms Gin and Young Henrys Noble Cut. You can get any of these made into an 'a la carte' gin and tonic — served with Australian Tonic ($13), truly Aussie as. If you can pull your eyes away from the gin list, the cafe fare sounds pretty standard, though does look pretty tasty and well-priced — think a manchego cheese frittata for brekkie ($6) and a pulled pork burger topped with sriracha butter for lunch or dinner ($10). The night-time small bar atmosphere is clearly the main draw for Tonic Lane, though. The Tonic Lane launch is set to coincide with World Gin Day. This Saturday's opening party will include eight complimentary gin samples, one offered every half-hour from noon. Tonic Lane opens at noon this Saturday, June 11 at Shop 6, 8 Young Lane, Neutral Bay. Opening hours are Sunday to Wednesday from 7am to 10pm and Thursday to Saturday from 7am to midnight. Image: Jez Timms.
MPavilion, the annual architectural commission and design event that sees a new temporary structure erected in Melbourne's lush Queen Victoria Gardens each spring, has unveiled its next iteration: an inside-outside contemporary take on the ancient amphitheatre. It will open to the public between October 2017 and February 2018. The work of two Netherlands-based architects from internationally renowned practice OMA, Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, this year's pavilion plays on the form of the ancient amphitheatre. With flexible design configurations, the structure will create a forward-thinking space for MPavilion's annual program of workshops, public debate, and music and arts events. According to MPavilion founder Naomi Milgrom, 2017's project is an exciting, multi-faceted work that "reflects the way architecture is going in the future". OMA's design centres around two tiered grandstands — one fixed, and the other rotatable, allowing for various interactions with the surrounding landscape and those impressive city skyline views. They'll be circled by a bank of native plants and crowned with a floating grid canopy that will house all that lighting and technical gear, while the translucent roof above is designed to capture the sunlight like an urban beacon. The build of MPavilion is slated to kick off in this August, with the design duo hoping their structure will be seen, "not just as an architectural object, but as something that injects intensity into a city and contributes to an ever-evolving culture". OMA's 2017 MPavilion will be open to the public between October 3, 2017, and February 4, 2018 inside Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens. For more info, visit mpavilion.org.
Louis Theroux's recently announced speaking tour of Australia could lay the seeds for a new documentary, the esoteric filmmaker has revealed. Speaking to the ABC, the British documentarian mentioned that he has long considered making a film in the outback, and that his upcoming visit could double as a reconnaissance mission. "I've always been interested in the landscape of Australia," said Theroux. "I've got a romantic association both with the American West and the Australian interior which seems to strike [an] emotional tone of austerity and size and remoteness, people carving out their destinies in this vast wilderness." "I don't know exactly what the story is but I've loved the idea of being in that frontier... the town at the end of line, this one-horse town with lives that combine dignity and a sense of desperation." "This two-week tour, I will keep my ear to the ground," he added. Theroux's documentaries for the BBC have tackled a range of controversial topics, from the American prison system to the porn industry and the hate-mongering Westboro Baptist Church. He also recently spoke about wanting to make a documentary about US Presidential hopeful your drunk uncle at Thanksgiving. His two-week trip of Australia kicks off in September and will include speaking engagements in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. Via ABC.
Hey kids, seems pizza does grow on trees, according to mightily-moustachioed, all-American comedian Nick Offerman. In a brand new Funny or Die video, the Parks and Recreation star takes you on a rip-roaring tour through his fictional Pizza Farm — where the team are hard at work "growing the ripe, juicy pizzas your kids love.” We wish. "What could be healthier than this? Acres of pizza, kissed by the sun, stretching as far as the eye can see." Offerman, or ‘food expert’ Daniel Francis, unearths Sloppy Joes from moist fields irrigated by cola, picks taquitos from the tree, wanders past fish finger vineyards, and eats a fresh slice of pepperoni pizza straight from the tree. “If it’s on a plant, it’s good for you, who cares how it got there.” According to TIME, Offerman’s genius Pizza Farm is apparently a big ol’ flip of the bird to idiotic protests against First Lady Michelle Obama’s huge campaign to change US school lunch regulations and get Congress to reauthorise the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 — which regulates the amount of unhealthy, high fat, high sugar, high salt food you can serve to school kidlets at lunch. Until then, most US school lunches will remain as cheaply-made and unhealthy as they can possibly can be. But as Offerman says, "French fries are practically salads, which is why I like mine with ranch." Pizza Farm with Nick Offerman - watch more funny videos Via TIME.
Pastels, lace and playsuits abound; designer Alice McCall is having a sample sale. It's been a big ol' year already for McCall, having launched her own boutique in Dalian, China on January 16 — and it's the first Australian designer boutique in the country — and she's opened her brand new Paddington boutique in the industrial, light-filled space once occupied by Aussie designer Josh Goot. Nab up to 80 percent off one-off samples, previous seasons and rolls of fabric — apparently prices start at $10. Ten beans for Alice McCall stock. Go go go. The sale is open from a super early 8am to 8pm on both June 16 and 17.
If you’ve been trying to take a sneaky peek at Artspace’s renovations these past couple of months, creep time is over. Set to reopen on March 29, the art institution has unveiled their secretive summer-long revamp, the first in 20 years. And straight off the bat, you can expect 'a lot of sorrow'. Artspace is now home to a bigger, more beautiful exhibition space, as well as a suite of lush, contemporary studios, where 42 Sydney-based artists will take on residencies over the next six years. To celebrate the opening, Artspace is hosting an epic exhibition, comprised of works from 13 international artists. The biggest drawcard is a divisive video piece by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, somewhat literally titled 'A Lot of Sorrow'. It captures The National playing 'Sorrow' from High Violet for six hours in a row, while wrapped in swirls of ice machine smoke. The performance was recorded in May 2013 at New York's MOMA PS.1 Gallery, in front of a live crowd. The song is three-and-a-half minutes long, so yep, you can settle in and watch it 105 times in a row. Here's the setlist from the day: Here's a teaser. Artspace isn't stopping at six hours of National sorrow. One of the most important new additions to the space is the 'Ideas Platform', a collaborative spot for the combining of exhibitions, performances and lectures. Its inaugural show will feature the works of Los Angeles-based artist Eve Fowler, who has exhibited at MOMA in New York and San Francisco, and ACMI in Los Angeles. Her bold, colourful pieces look like enormous band posters, but feature quotations from Gertrude Stein poems. Recently, they filled a series of billboards along the Interstate 10, which runs between Florida and California. Looks like big stuff on the cards for Artspace. Find Artspace at 43-51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo.
When the ancient Greeks dreamt up democracy many moons ago, they surely knew their labour of political love would reap plentiful rewards for humanity — barbecuable rewards. Voting and sausage sizzles go together like Q&A and provocative tweets. And in 2016, you don't even have keep your fingers crossed for a damn sizzle at your voting booth — there's an actual Australian election sausage sizzle tracker website to help you, aptly named Snagvotes. No longer will you needlessly wheel around town, crazed with hunger and the insatiable need to drag a giant bedsheet-sized piece of paper into a booth, to find a sausage sizzle in your electorate. Created by Australian legend and all-round goalkicker Grant Castner, Snagvotes compiles a list of all the polling booths in Australia, thankfully cross referencing sausage sizzles with cake stalls. Important. The site was unearthed by Junkee last year, and was so popular that it's back, spreading election day cheer (pinpointing exactly where you can go to stuff your face full of tubed pig meat, fried onions, local go-getter spirit and democracy). They're even giving back to the community with sausage-based 'How To Vote' guides. What a world we live in! In 2013, there were a staggering 1470 sausage sizzles across the county, at 19 percent of all polling booths and we're hoping like hell to beat that total in 2016. Volunteers can register their snag station here and snag-hungry voters can find their closest sizzle here. Remember to thank your barbecue team.
Put your popcorn and choc top down for a sec and switch to tea, scones and a cheeky Pimm's Cup — it's British Film Festival time. Every year, the annual cinema showcase gathers up the best new movies Old Blighty has to offer, bringing them to Palace Cinemas for our antipodean viewing pleasure. From October 24 to November 15, the fest is back for its 2017 run. As always, BFF is a positively jam-packed affair, spanning true romances, hard-hitting dramas, music documentaries, literary origin stories and a retrospective feast of mystery flicks — and they're just some of the highlights from what promises to be a busy few weeks of British movie-watching. If you're feeling a little overwhelmed with options, stick with our five picks of the festival below. MARY SHELLEY On a rainy summer night just over two centuries ago, a teenager, her future husband and their friends sat around a Swiss log fire and gave themselves the challenge of writing a ghost story. The competitors included English poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley — but it was the latter's girlfriend, young Mary Wollstonecraft, who easily won their contest. Pondering the concept of a reanimated corpse, she started penning Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus — aka the greatest horror novel ever written). Starring Elle Fanning as the author, and directed by Wadjda's Haifaa Al-Mansour, Mary Shelley relays her efforts, telling the intriguing tale behind her famous creature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukJ5dMYx2no THE DEATH OF STALIN He has turned British bureaucracy and US politics into a smart, hilarious farce across two stellar TV comedies, but The Thick of It and Veep's Armando Iannucci isn't done satirising the powers that be — or, that once were in The Death of Stalin's case — just yet. Given its title, there are no prizes for guessing what his second big screen directorial effort is about. With a cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Tambor, Paddy Considine and Michael Palin, Iannucci adapts the graphic novel of the same name into an amusing and irreverent look at the aftermath of the USSR dictator's passing in 1953. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yurPcX4xrqI HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES Trust Neil Gaiman to write a short story about a shy '70s punk teenager crossing paths with a curious visiting alien. Trust Hedwig and the Angry Inch's John Cameron Mitchell to turn the tale into an interesting and engaging sci-fi rom-com. As offbeat as its sounds, How to Talk to Girls at Parties corrals ever-busy The Beguiled co-stars Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman into its account of love, rebellion, taking risks and fighting for what you want in life. That might sound like your average teen romance, but this zesty, imaginative and thoroughly likeable effort is anything but. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmBd5-ITyA ENGLAND IS MINE "Stop being a mardarse," Steven Patrick Morrissey is told early in England Is Mine. Of course he is. But, if he'd taken that advice, everything from The Smiths to this film wouldn't exist. Yes, this biopic of British singer and songwriter's early years in Manchester plays out just as you'd expect — the moody brooding, the lines like "life is too short for cliches", and the distinctive appeal of its central figure (played by Dunkirk's Jack Lowden) included. It won't convert anyone new to the Morrissey cause and you won't hear any of his hits, but the end result certainly is as melancholy as an unauthorised flick about 'the pope of mope' should be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppBlSpdVlEA JAWBONE A knockout boxing film that demonstrates how a familiar, frequently seen genre can still pack a considerable punch, Jawbone also marks a landmark effort for British actor Johnny Harris. Previously best known for the likes of Snow White and the Huntsman and various incarnations of the This Is England TV series, Harris stars, writes, produces and loosely bases the feature's narrative on his own teenage fighting experiences. Ray Winstone, Michael Smiley and Ian McShane also pop up on screen in this social realist boxing offering, but there's no doubting that this compelling and convincing underdog story belongs to Harris from start to finish. The 2017 British Film Festival screens in Sydney from October 24 to November 15, Melbourne from October 26 to November 15, and Brisbane from October 25 to November 15. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
The seasons are changing, beer lovers. And true to form, the brewers at James Squire’s Malt Shovel Brewery are changing with them. Mixing up their methodology yet again, the craft beer company have just announced the latest iteration of their mercurial American-style Pale Ale, with the uniquely flavoured Hop Thief 7. Described by James Squire senior brewer Rob Freshwater as "probably the number one beer of choice amongst the brewers," the Hop Thief variety began as something of an experiment, but has quickly evolved into one of the company's best loved beers. What makes the beer stand out is its constantly changing recipe; each Hop Thief instalment is made with a different combination of hops, allowing the brewers to essentially reinvent the beer each time. This most recent iteration combines Galaxy and Mosaic hops. According to head brewer Chris Sheehan, the first strain adds "a vibrant citrus and passionfruit aroma," while the second adds "pine notes and a strong, earthy undertone." "Our last Hop Thief release was incredibly popular, so we needed to make sure we came up with a unique and equally flavoursome successor," says Sheehan. "We've worked hard on this brew and believe we've created a beer adult Australians will love." Certainly, Hop Thief 6 will prove a tough act to follow. Not only was it a hit with the general public, but it also took home Bronze at the 2014 Australian International Beer Awards. Still, no one at James Squire seems too worried. Hop Thief 7 will available in-pack and on-tap nationwide in March.
This year's Festival of Dangerous Ideas is, among other things, bringing us the likes of Alicia Garza, Henry Rollins, and, uh, Andrew Bolt which seems like a dangerous idea in itself, to be honest. But aside from people, the festival is also providing on the 'cool things' front by casually installing THE FUTURE (virtual reality experiences) in the Sydney Opera House foyers. Thanks to The Guardian and The Economist, you can strap a little white box to your face and call it the year 2060. Each will have a VR component at the festival, so you've got choices for experiencing virtual goodness. The Guardian's effort is called 6x9 and will put you in a solitary confinement cell, 6 feet-wide by 9 feet-long, and allow you to briefly experience what being kept in isolation feels like. On the other hand, The Economist is tackling the sea, as their environment correspondent Miranda Johnson will be talking out the issue of overfishing in a ticketed event, along with ABC The Business presenter Ticky Fullerton. Their free VR offering Oceans VR: Net Positive will allow users to explore the deep unknown, so it's for you unless you have a fear of deep sea diving. Both virtual reality experiences will be located in the Western Foyers of the Sydney Opera House and will be free as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas — foyers open from 9.30am. Image: Prudence Upton.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 28, 2016: Sydney's pop-up glamping hotel has been postponed until 2017. New dates will be released soon. Glamping on an island in the middle of Sydney Harbour — it's one of the most decadent 'outdoorsy' things you can do (it's kinda, sorta camping, sure). Cockatoo Island has been doing this for years, but rival island Clark is taking things up a notch. Aussie company Flash Camp are setting up on Sydney's Clark Island, turning it into a temporary pop-up tent hotel. Best bit? They're also bringing a pop-up restaurant from Three Blue Ducks. No less than 22 specially-designed canvas tents will take over the island from November 19 to December 6, flanked by a pop-up version of Three Blue Ducks. Considering Clark Island has one of the best panoramic views in the harbour (Wine Island should know), this is some next-level, highly opulent, 100 percent Instagrammable pop-up biznatch. It's a pretty damn exxy $420 per person to stay, so prepare to break open that piggy bank. Who are Flash Camp? They're an Australian business specialising in temporary accommodation — glamping tents in particular. You might know them from their fancy, fancy tents at Splendour in the Grass (y'know, the ones that look drier and more plush than your own soggy palace with its own 'lake views'). Now, let's break down the 'hotel'. Each tent coming to Clark Island five metres in diameter and somehow fit in comfy single and king size beds, quality bed linen, bamboo furniture, solar lighting, Armadillo & Co rugs, Biology Skin toiletries and more. There'll also be a communal lounge and dining area, bathroom facilities and the best feature of all: YOU'RE SURROUNDED BY WATER. Invite someone you actually like. Three Blue Ducks are yet to reveal their hotel menu. "There's something really exciting about cooking a large cut of meat or freshly caught fish and inviting guests to interact and be part of that experience," says Three Blue Ducks co-owner and head chef Mark LaBrooy, who we assume will not be actually catching fish from Sydney Harbour to cook onsite. But then again... Flash Camp will pop-up on Clark Island from November 19 to December 6. Rates start at $420 per person, per night including breakfast, dinner and boat transfers. To book visit Flash Camp's website. Image: Elise Hassey.
On April 17, 1816, a massacre occurred near Appin, a small rural town one hour's drive southwest of the Sydney CBD. Then Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered his soldiers to attack an Aboriginal camp, either shooting its occupants or driving them over a gorge, to their death. Official records say 14 people were killed, but many Indigenous historians will tell you the total was much higher. This tragedy might have been erased from many a history textbook, but if you head to Campbelltown Arts Centre anytime between now and 12 June, you'll see that members of the local Dharawal community remember it all too well. They've collaborated with curators Tess Allas (Australia) and David Garneau (Canada) to put together an exhibition titled Secrecy and Despatch. The show marks the massacre's 200-year anniversary and, at the same time, reflects on Australia and Canada's parallel colonial histories. It features newly commissioned pieces by six leading Aboriginal Australian artists, namely Vernon Ah Kee, Julie Gough, Tony Albert, Frances Belle Parker, Dale Harding and Genevieve Grieves, and four First Nations Canadian artists: Cheryl L'Hirondelle, Adrian Stimson, Marianne Nicolson and Jordan Bennett. "Campbelltown Arts Centre is committed to sharing the history of the area the centre is situated in, Dharawal country, a community rich in diversity, and at a point in time where acknowledgement of past tragedy is crucial to our collective future," said director Michael Dagostino.
Movie buffs, it's time. Sydney Film Festival is back, with around 250 films from 60 countries, including 25 world premieres and 139 Australian premieres, that you'll be feasting your eyes on come June 8 to 19. If you've been keeping up with the international film scene, you might've spotted that SFF's program launch fell on the same day the Cannes Film Festival kicked off. That timing wasn't just a stroke of luck. A host of films are heading to Sydney straight from the prestigious event — Xavier Dolan's sixth feature It's Only the End of the World, Pedro Almodóvar's eagerly awaited Julieta and Steven Spielberg's motion-captured take on The BFG among them. Partially Sydney-shot psychological drama Apprentice is coming, as is Brazilian offering Aquarius and Indian true-crime thriller Raman Raghav 2.0. Alongside Dolan's star-studded effort, they're also among the twelve films vying for SFF's official prize of $63,000 — as are Kelly Reichardt's Sundance hit Certain Women, innovative docu-drama hybrid Notes on Blindness, fictionalised historical tale The Childhood of a Leader, Portuguese love story Letters from War, and opening night's Goldstone. Goldstone should rank highly on every cinephile's must-see list. Moodley describes Ivan Sen's Mystery Road follow-up as a "statement of intent" for this year's festival — his fifth at the helm, and the fifth to commence with locally made or focused content. "It is important that we highlight the cinema of this country," he explains. "And for me, it is a wonderful thing to open the festival with a world premiere of a great Australian film." On the Aussie-made front, Down Under is certain to raise a few eyebrows when it makes its first appearance at SFF, given that it turns the aftermath of the 2005 Cronulla riots into a black comedy. In fact, having a sense of healthy humour is almost a pre-requisite for festival-goers. Daniel Radcliffe plays a farting corpse in Swiss Army Man, Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña team up for buddy-cop satire War on Everyone, Tom Hiddleston climbs the darkly dystopian High-Rise, and the watery Chevalier offers up the latest Greek new wave absurdity. They're joined by the high-profile likes of Richard Linklater's '80s-set Everybody Wants Some!!, Michael Shannon playing rock 'n' roll royalty in Elvis & Nixon, Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg going back to his Dogme 95 roots with The Commune, and actor-turned-director Diego Luna taking Danny Glover and Maya Rudolph on a Mexican road trip in Mr. Pig. A number of notable documentaries also feature, including Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch's love letter to Iggy Pop; Kiki, winner of Berlinale's Teddy Award for its look at New York's competitive voguing scene; Kate Plays Christine, which takes the meta approach to a real life prime-time suicide; and internet exploration Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, as directed and narrated by none other than Werner Herzog. A timely spotlight on ten emerging European female filmmakers, showcases of modern Korean and Irish cinema, the previously revealed Scorsese retrospective and a virtual reality program in the SFF Hub help round out the lineup, alongside the return of regular sections Box Set, Sounds on Screen and Freak Me Out. And while no one wants to think about the end of the festival just yet, penciling closing night into your calendar right now is a wise move. Who doesn't want to wrap up 12 days of film fun with Love & Friendship, particularly if you're a Jane Austen, Whit Stillman, Kate Beckinsale or Chloe Sevigny fan? The 2016 Sydney Film Festival runs from June 8 to 19. To check out the complete program and book tickets, visit the festival website.
Lovers of outdoor sculpture, you no longer have to wait till October for your waterfront fix. Today, the good folks at Sculpture by the Sea made the massive announcement that they're teaming up with the Barangaroo Delivery Authority for an epic new annual exhibition, Sculpture at Barangaroo. Launching on August 6, the inaugural event will feature 12 spectacular outdoor works, created by fifteen Australian artists. Six of the pieces are brand new, while the other six are existent, but have been handpicked for their suitability to the site. Established and emerging artists are represented, including Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Marley Dawson, Lucy Humphrey, Ron Robertson-Swann OAM, Margarita Sampson, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Yasmin Smith, Marcus Tatton, Ken Unsworth, Sally Kiddal, Lyndsay Urquhart, Emily Nichol and Tereasa Trevor, and Auntie Deidre Martin. The exhibition will show until Sunday, August 21, closing with a massive party, to celebrate Barangaroo Reserve's first anniversary (keep an eye out for details on that). Throughout the 16 days, exhibiting artists will give free talks on site and there'll be opportunities for audience participation. "We are very excited to be presenting Sculpture at Barangaroo, which will showcase once more the amazing public space the NSW Government has created at Barangaroo," said Craig van der Laan, CEO of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. "Works to be exhibited by the extraordinary team of assembled artists will highlight the textures of Barangaroo's spectacular sandstone and gardens, drawing on our commitment to sustainability and the significance of Aboriginal history and culture in this special place." Sculpture at Barangaroo runs August 6-21. More details at Barangaroo's website.
No shirt, no shoes, no problems whatsoever. London is getting a pop-up restaurant that takes the concept of casual dining to a whole new level. Opening over the northern summer, The Bunyadi promises a dining experience free from the distractions of your complicated modern life. That means no phones, no electricity and – yep! – no clothing. Now, technically the no clothing clause is an optional one, with the restaurant split into nude and non-nude sections. But who are we kidding here: if you're rocking up to a clothing optional restaurant and not going naked, what exactly was the point? Taking its name from the Hindi word for 'natural', The Bunyadi is the brainchild of Lollipop, the pop-up specialists responsible for ABQ, London's Breaking Bad-themed cocktail bar. Guests at their new venture will be seated in wood-hewn furniture and dine by candlelight on flame-cooked food served in handmade clay crockery. "We believe people should get the chance to enjoy and experience a night out without any impurities: no chemicals, no artificial colours, no electricity, no gas, no phone and even no clothes if they wish," Lollipop founder Seb Lyall told Made in Shoreditch. "The idea is to experience true liberation." Reservations will be released on a first come, first serve basis. Anyone interested in dining in the buff can sign up to the waitlist behind 3500 other nudists at The Bunyadi's website. Via Made in Shoreditch. Image: Patryk Dziejma. UPDATE APRIL 28, 2016: As of today, there are a whopping 28,000 people on the waitlist for The Bunyadi. And it's climbing. Better off just getting your kit off in the dining room at home?
A new study by Melbourne's La Trobe University has led one expert to suggest what we've all known deep down for years: dogs should be allowed at the pub. A recent survey of more than 2300 Victorian pet owners found that 63 percent of dogs were not walked daily and that many animals were left alone for large amounts of time throughout the day. The solution? Take them out drinking, of course. According to La Trobe researcher Dr. Tiffany Howell, only 26 per cent of people take their pet on an outing every day, and 17 per cent do it less that once a week. It's a concerning statistic that RSPCA spokesperson Michael Beatty attributes to restrictive Australian laws that mean dogs are allowed in fewer public places than they are in other countries around the world. "In England or Scotland or New York they are always getting exercise because they go everywhere with their owner," Beatty told the ABC. "In Australia they can't go everywhere with their owner, like a pub ... They can in Europe and most parts of America and the UK." Obviously, we here at Concrete Playground fully support the notion that dogs should be allowed in pubs and bars. For starters, it'd mean you'd never have to drink alone again. Studies have shown that animal companionship is great for people's mental health and happiness, so that's another big mark in its favour. Plus, if you have one too many beverages, your dog can help you find your way home. Mr. Beatty also said that human laziness plays a major part in why pooches aren't getting enough exercise, telling the ABC that "unfortunately some people seem to think that owning an animal is a right rather than a privilege. With that privilege comes certain responsibility." And in case you were wondering, it's not just dogs in need of a workout. The same La Trobe Uni study found that 40 per cent of cats were overweight. Frankly, a nice long pub crawl would probably do them good. Just whatever you do, don't give your pets alcohol. We know you'll be tempted, but really, we cannot stress that enough. Via ABC Online. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
The Chaser gang are getting back to their roots, with plans to publish a brand spanking new print magazine. The team behind The Hamster Wheel, Yes We Canberra, Sydney's Giant Dwarf theatre and the Make a Realistic Wish Foundation have recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to get the satirical publication off the ground, with the aim of releasing their first edition in the next couple of months. According to the group's Pozible page, The Chaser Quarterly will be a 96-page colour magazine that will address "the key problem of our time: namely — there is not enough content in the world." They're hoping to raise $50,000, money they say will be use to establish a "'tax effective' offshore corporate structure" so as to ensure the project isn't stymied "by the onerous burden of paying tax to fund Australia's hospitals, schools and roads". Truly this campaign video says it all. Right now, a $25 pledge will get you a copy of the magazine, while $50 will see it signed by the entire Chaser team. More extravagant rewards include the chance to pitch your own article for $500 (although there's no guarantee it will be published), or the opportunity to run your own full page ad for $1500 (on the condition that it "fundamentally undermine the product it is seeking to sell".) Although best known for their highbrow political satire on television, The Chaser team actually started out publishing a fortnightly newspaper that ran for six years between 1999 and 2005. Among their memorable stunts from this period was the time they published Prime Minister John Howard's home phone number on their front page. Assuming they reach their Pozible target, the first edition of The Chaser Quarterly will be published in spring 2015 and feature articles by many familiar Chaser contributors, including Andrew Hansen, Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel. In order to keep up the appearance of a successful company, head team members will be payed in Beluga Caviar, while the rest of the creatives, including writers, cartoonists, illustrators and graphic designers, will divvy up $300 between them. Pledge via Pozible and keep an eye on the Chaser Quarterly website for updates.
Melbourne-based photographer Zan Wimberley brings her latest collection of stunning works to Sydney's Artereal Gallery. The lengthily-named Who could bear to look up at the night sky and know which stars are already dead is an exploration of fireworks and similarly celebratory materials, in comparison and contrast with the stars. They are considered as a metaphor for the ephemeral — of both the individual and the universe — against the backdrop of the sensory overload facilitated by the Internet. Wimberley studied scientific photography at RMIT, before becoming a favourite employee of many Australian cinematographers. She went on to complete a Masters at Sydney College of the Arts and then shifted her focus to her own practice. So far, she's exhibited at Firstdraft and Annette Larkin Fine Art, among other galleries. Her work is regularly preoccupied with the big questions of death, eternity, mourning and loss, visiting the space between death and the absurd.
You may have already seen them around town: posters depicting a heroic, vintage-looking image of a man in a turban with the word "AUSSIE" printed across the bottom. Starting this week, Adelaide based artist and filmmaker Peter Drew will be sticking up 1000 of these posters all over Australia, beginning with 250 around Sydney alone. The poster portrays Monga Khan, an Indian hawker who lived and worked in Australia in the early 1900s. He was one of thousands of people who applied for exemptions to the White Australia Policy and was granted exemption because he was considered essential to the Australian economy. As Drew explains, "Ultimately I want to find out if 'Aussie' really means what I think it does. Did Australia inherit its identity from the people who created the White Australia Policy…. or does 'Aussie' have more to do with the people who survived it?" "Because Redfern is a diverse community and we like helping people out" thanks Jamie from @scouts_honour !🐪👌☕️ This afternoon I'm going to hit the North side, any suggestions? #MongaKhan #RealAustraliansSayWelcome A photo posted by -- Peter Drew -- (@peterdrewarts) on Apr 4, 2016 at 5:23pm PDT This campaign, dubbed What is a real Aussie?, was successfully crowdfunded in March, grossing over $19K. The funds are being used to cover printing and transportation cost, as all of the printing and distribution will be done by Drew's own hands. Drew's artistic focus on national identity began in 2015 with his first poster project, Real Australians Say Welcome, a campaign that promoted openness toward asylum seekers. Also crowdfunded by Pozible, the success of this campaign was in a big way due to public collaboration and participation, so Drew has again called for creative assistance — including any creative ideas, guidance on best spots to post, and even someone to give him a lift or neighbourhood tour. Good morning beautiful Cronulla! #MongaKhan #RealAustraliansSayWelcome A photo posted by -- Peter Drew -- (@peterdrewarts) on Apr 1, 2016 at 2:01pm PDT The project has just begun, so if you're still interested in donating or getting involved you can contact Drew directly. He'll be in Sydney for the remainder of this week so you still have a few days to get involved firsthand with this bloody great project. It's great to be back in Sydney's Western suburbs, but the truth is my first visit was a little confronting. When I first walked down the streets of Auburn I realised what it must feel like to be a minority. I'd never felt that way in Australia, but these days it doesn't feel unusual at all, especially when I meet friendly people like Bassam! I'll be on the West side all day so which suburbs should I visit? #MongaKhan #RealAustraliansSayWelcome A photo posted by -- Peter Drew -- (@peterdrewarts) on Apr 2, 2016 at 6:01pm PDT Top image: Shannon Connellan.
From children playing in the sea near Arnhem Land to an elderly man cleaning his suburban pool, Australians from all walks of life are represented in the 22 stunning images chosen as finalists in this year's Australian Life photography contests. An initiative of Art and About Sydney, the competition is the second largest photography contest in the country, with a cash prize of $10,000. The winner will be announced on September 17, while all the finalists will be on display along the St James walkway in Sydney's Hyde Park from September 18 to October 11. The judges for this year's competition are previous winner Tamara Dean, ARTHERE founder and Stills Gallery curator Sandy Edwards, Australian Centre for Photography curator and exhibition programmer Mark Feary, and interior stylist, author and lifestyle blogger Jason Grant. Organisers have also partnered with Tourism Australia for a special Instagram competition, which last year drew more than 30,000 entries. Amateur photographers can submit their entries using the hashtag #australianlife and go in the running to win $5000. The Instagram competition closes on October 1, with winners announced on October 9.
Lovers of cinema and hummus-fuelled picnics rejoice: the Moonlight Cinema program has finally arrived and it’s looking mighty good. The lineup features some of this year's biggest new Hollywood releases alongside more demure titles, family favourites and age-old classics, so you can guarantee you’ll find something that piques your interest. Let’s start with the bigwigs What better way to see the big releases of summer than outdoors on a balmy night? Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two and SPECTRE are all showing and (we’d imagine) best viewed under the stars. We’re also thrilled to see a fair whack of female-centric films in the lineup too, as well as an array of movies that cover hitherto taboo topics in the popular cinema circuit. Joy, starring everyone’s favourite human Jennifer Lawrence, follows the unconventional story of a mother of three as she builds a business empire in the '90s; Suffragette is an important historical period drama about women's fight for the vote in pre-war Britain and appropriately features a dreamy cast of unique and unapologetic women including Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter. We’ve also got The Danish Girl, featuring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, which explores the life of transgender artist Lili Elbe. Closer to home on Australia Day, we’ve got The Dressmaker, a montage of Kate Winslet looking hot and Liam Hemsworth looking filthy hot (maybe other things happen in the plot too but why would they bother?). And at the other end of the spectrum is the lighthearted comedy Sisters, featuring unstoppable duo Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. But don’t think the gentlemen miss out. The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest Oscar bid, was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (of Birdman fame) so you can guarantee it’ll be equally beautiful, dramatic and weird. And if you miss The Martian or missed Jurassic World in cinemas, you can catch them at Moonlight sessions too. As always Moonlight Cinema will be throwing back to classics: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing and Grease. Tickets are on sale now for the summer sessions so get booking lest you get stuck in front of Dirty Grandpa (yes, a film where you can see Robert Deniro making out with April Ludgate while Zac Efron wears a vast array of golfing sweaters — that is apparently showing too :/). Moonlight Cinema runs across Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide from December 3, Perth from December 5 and Brisbane from December 16. Tickets are on sale now from the Moonlight Cinema website.
It's the opening Sydney burger lovers have been waiting for, even if they didn't know it yet. After setting up shop in Burleigh Heads and recently branching out to Brisbane, Queensland's Ze Pickle has forged ahead with their expansion plans. Next stop: Surry Hills. Foveaux Street is your new go-to burger locale, as Ze Pickle have officially opened their first Sydney venue. Now you can lock your chops around a Pablo Escoburger (that's ground wagyu beef, cheese, guacamole, queso, smoked jalapeños, corn chips and optional pulled pork), and make trying every one of their meat and bread combos some kind of mission this season. Ze Pickle's mouthwatering menu also includes the crispy chicken and mac 'n' cheese waffle mayhem that is the 4.20AM, as well as the Triple Loco: an infamous tower of beef, cheese, bacon and pork in-between grilled cheese sandwiches. If your tastebuds aren't already trembling with excitement, a quick squiz at their Instagram feed will do the trick. Case in point: A photo posted by zepickle (@zepickle) on Jul 10, 2015 at 6:41pm PDT When it comes to Queensland's favourite greasy treats making inroads into New South Wales, Ze Pickle follows in the footsteps of Doughnut Time, which has just started opening stores around Sydney. However, that's not the only thing they have in common, with the two joining forces recently to unleash the ultimate sweet and savoury mashup. The word you're looking for? It's yum. Ze Pickle's Sydney store is open at Shop 6, 17-51 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills. For more information, head to their Facebook page.
Waking up to the smell of something delicious and fresh out of the oven is one of life's greatest little pleasures. Flour Market is the expert at giving Melbournians that fuzzy stomach feeling by curating selections of the finest bakers and pastry-makers for seasonal bake sales early on weekend mornings. Flour Market was born and raised in Melbourne, but now it's Sydney's chance to wake up to the wafts of all of the freshly baked goods lined up under the one convenient roof at Sydney Boys High. Lines have been wrapped around street corners for previous Flour Markets, and with this lineup? You'd better get there early. The likes of Andy Bowdy, Black Star Pastry, Brewtown Newtown, Brickfields, Brooklyn Boy Bagels, Flour and stone, Miss Lilly's Kitchen and Woah Nelly will be there, alongside newcomers including Alfamores, The Bread & Butter Project, DONUT PAPI and Fluffe; and extra special appearances from LuxBite, Butterbing Cookie Sandwiches and Everyday Coffee from Melbourne. Read more about the Flour Markets in our interview with mastermind Mark Free here.
The team behind Sydney Contemporary art fair will serve up seven days worth of parties, pop-ups, performances and public events, as part of their newly announced Sydney Art Week program. Running alongside the main Sydney Contemporary program at Carriageworks this September, the week-long festival within a festival will go down at various locations around the inner-city, with the aim of bringing art into the public domain. Headlining the new initiative is the Art and Dine program, wherein leading Sydney restaurants including The Apollo, Longrain, Otto and Riley St Garage will offer customers specially made, art-inspired dishes. So too will a number of Sydney bars including the QT Hotel bar be serving a bespoke 'Pink Frost' cocktail designed by 2014 Archibald Prize winner Fiona Lowry (in collaboration with a mixologist.) Other standouts in the Sydney Art Week program include a series of late night talks, films and moving image works hosted by leading Australian artists such as Tracey Moffat at QT's secret cinema, a one off culture and craft showcase presented by Redfern Night Markets, and a specially curated performance art trail that takes participants on a journey through many of Sydney's leading art hotspots. The main Sydney Contemporary Program, meanwhile, begins on Thursday September 10 with an opening night party featuring live performances from the likes of harpist Jake Meadows, soul-singer Sarsha Simone, DJ Jessica Lovelle and music collective The Alaska Orchestra. There will also be after parties held every night at venues around Redfern, including The Dock, Arcadia, 107 Projects and The Bearded Tit. Sydney Art Week runs from September 7-13 at various locations around Sydney, while Sydney Contemporary takes place from September 10-13 at Carriageworks in Redfern. For more information visit www.sydneycontemporary.com.au
Chucks: for a long time, it seemed like every second person had a pair. There have been different colors, patterns and materials, but there has never been a significant redesign of this ubiquitous shoe. Or at least there hadn't been – until now. On July 28 Converse is officially set to release the All Star II, a brand new iteration of their classic Chuck Taylor All Star. It's about time, too. As iconic as they may be, Chucks aren't historically the most comfortable shoe to actually wear. Walk any significant distance in them and your feet tend to feel like a combination of white noise and the burning sensation of the sun. Thankfully, it would appear Converse has been listening to our complaints. You won't hurt your arches with the new All Star II, which uses Nike Lunarlon cushioning to make it feel like you're walking on a fluffy cloud. The shoe will also feature a more "breathable" micro-suede lining and a padded non-slip tongue. At the end of the day though, while the guts may be different, the outside remains more or less the same. Converse is keeping the familiar rubber toe, All-Star patch and matte eyelets, albeit with a few minor enhancements. Moreover, classic Chuck-lovers don't need to worry: the All Star II isn't replacing the original. Rather, it's an addition to the family. Unlike its predecessor, there are only four colours available for the limited initial run (black, blue, red, and white). That being said, don't be surprised if Converse release more versions of this new shoe after the first run has ended.
