What exactly is Cinema Burlesque? Who cares! It's free, it has nothing to do with That Film and you can watch it while nursing a cold one at the Town Hall's pop-up bar that is so much more than just a pop-up bar. Throwing open its doors between 5pm and 10pm every night of the Sydney Film Festival, the Hub will be the nerve centre of 2012's programme. Curated by those cultured revellers The Festivalists, it will be kind of similar to their supremely awesome Jurassic Lounge, except that instead of dinosaurs there will be a giant portrait of Willem Dafoe. Dafoe's large-scale snap will be accompanied by those of 24 other iconic actors and directors, lensed by Fabrizio Maltese and gathered from major film festivals across the globe for the Hub's headline exhibition. There will also be screenings, talks, panels, parties, live music, DJs and sound and video mash-ups by VJ Tom Loud, all put on with the overarching aim of letting film fiends experience the festival as an insider. And it's free! See our picks of the 10 best things to see at the Sydney Film Festival.
Flamenco is one of those art forms that plays tricks on your mind. Many people think of Spain as a pan-flamenco nation, for one, and so are confounded when unable to find the flamboyant rhythms and flourishes of the dance in the north. Born in the fiery southern region of Andalucia, flamenco's history ducks and weaves through poetic and political lines, becoming a physical polyglot of Arabic, Spanish, Jewish and Gypsy traditions.Eva Yerbabuena, the pre-eminent Spanish flamenco dancer, rides the ambiguity of flamenco's spirit with her own passionate fervour. Having lived her entire life within its embrace, Yerbabuena teases and tweaks flamenco through her work to demonstrate that there are no true conventions in this art form.It is hard to discern where flamenco and Yerbabuena end, if at all, as the audible rhythms of her feet flow up and through her body, into a mix of contemporary music, jazz improvisation and familiar Spanish sounds. Accompanying Yerbabuena is her guitarist husband, Paco Jarano, whose virtuoso craft guides an ensemble of guitarists, vocalists and a percussionist. Flamenco lovers, both long-term and those yet to realise, must do everything in their power to experience this wonder in its limited Sydney season.Video from Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey (2002)https://youtube.com/watch?v=KLDSN-4iIms
Step out of character, become yourself is the fruition of the Rob McHaffie’s stint in the Byron Bay hinterland earlier this year. The exhibition title is borrowed from the walls of the Nimbin Museum, and the show itself is totally Byron, peppered with all the connotations that the coastal haven holds for us stressed-out city folk. The tongue-in-cheek, humble-in-size canvases explore how this place can simultaneously stand for spirituality and luxury: idyllic scenes of nature are tempered by symbols of mod cons, as seen in African fertility sculpture having a caffe latte. McHaffie is funny and playful while rendering his complex characters human. The young Melbourne-based artist has a penchant for the grotesque and this comes through in elements of his paintings, where faces warp and features blur. Although he successfully highlights the ludicrousness of some situations and characters, he is not judging, rather he is supporting his companions as they move between spiritualism and materialism.
Are your weekends behaving like those annoying soft toys in grabber machines? Like elusive soul-sucking hussies watching you with mocking eyes as you try to pick them up with your silly crane thing, before it's game over and you're empty handed? You rue all the lost pennies, hours and dignity, and then it's Monday again. Here's a weekend you can come away from feeling like you sunk your metal fingers into something. It may not be as bright and fluffy, but it will leave you feeling like you actually did something, actually went somewhere - like, I don't know, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Greece, Czchoslovakia and France. The Classic European Film Festival, presented by Washington DC film critic Eddie Cockrell, will screen eight legendary cinematic gems - including Hiroshima Mon Amour, The Fireman's Ball, The Passenger, Z, Babbette's Feast and Raising Ravens - over one weekend, with panel discussions following each film. Image: The Fireman's Ball (1967) https://youtube.com/watch?v=nl_vc_IVFao
These days, exhibition openings aren’t too shoddy when it comes to luring you in. Most of us have been known to submit to the temptation of a free drink or two, and maybe even a couple of canapés on the side. One young photography festival, however, has discovered a new draw card: the big screen. Shutterbug, now in its second year, is a national quest to highlight, award and celebrate the work of emerging photographers. The projection night at the Chauvel features the finalists’ work alongside talented guest photographers projected onto glorious celluloid. This doesn’t mean that the drinks and canapés are forgotten either: both are complimentary beforehand. Add to this potent mix an after party, champagne and industry professionals, and you have a roaring success in hand.
Royalty sells – just ask Queen Elizabeth II. While her ancestor, Queen Victoria’s later years have been adapted into film and portrayed by the likes of Judi Dench et al, little attention has been devoted to her earlier years. Queen Victoria was a molly-coddled child governed by an overly protective mother, who subsequently went on to become our longest reigning sovereign. Jean-Marc Vallée directs a romantic period piece tackling palace power struggles; the tumultuous early years of Victoria’s reign over the British Empire; and the love story that develops between Her Royal Highness (a shinning Emily Blunt) and the suave Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). Predictably, the film suffers from some historic inaccuracies and at times glosses over important events, but the cinematography and costumes are stunning and lavish without being gaudy, making The Young Victoria is a warm and quaintly decorative drama.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKs3yIZolsM
There’s nothing indecent about a bit of exposure, which is exactly what Object contributes to the overall fanfare of Sydney Design 09. Fashion, no stranger to partial nudity, is represented in the form of MATERIALBYPRODUCT’s range, which plays literally on the age-old term ‘fashion house’. Their ‘curtain gowns’ - which are a little bit curtain, a little bit gown - are presented by models who are undressed and redressed before your eyes, ostensibly to perform the versitility and wearability of the range. In another take on exposure, the Manufacturing Mavericks talks reveal the manufacturing and marketing experiences of six entrepreneurs in the design industry. Question-time with drinks afterwards gives you the chance and dutch courage to pick the brains of those who have been there and learn from their experiences. IMAGE MATERIALBYPRODUCT, 2009, Crystal Dunn wearing Curtain Gown. Art Direction & Design: 3 Deep Design, Photo: Jeff Busby.
As far as I’m concerned, there is just nothing sexier than a man in glasses. This is why there are only two musicians in the world for me: Buddy Holly and Elvis Costello. Considering that one is sadly deceased, there can be little confusion as to who I’ll be following around Australia come October this year.To be fair, there is a little more to Elvis than the glasses. His genre-defying musical accomplishments, for one. His career spans pumping dance floor hits, moodily melodic ballads, gems of pure pop genius and, my personal favourite, despairing stalker seduction. I Want You beats The Police’s Every Breath You Take hands down. And I’m firmly convinced that there is no one in the world who could resist Elvis’ deep, rumbling croon. The man could take over the world if he decided to.So if you do head along to check out Elvis, just know that your chances are nil. His number one fan will already be there.https://youtube.com/watch?v=hwRvNIurhjc
Harry Harlow was a man fascinated by the nature of love and affection, but his desire to comprehend this took curious forms. As a psychologist, he investigated the significance of maternal affection by depriving monkeys of this care, then force mating these females and, eventually, isolating monkeys in his 'pit of despair' for up to two years. Talk about tough love. While 'scientific detachment' is a popular ideal, Harlow really took this stuff to a new level. That said, he also managed to cleanly dispose of those '50s notions of motherly love as a harmful indulgence, and opened the door to a new era of child psychology. Transforming this complex and disturbing tale into live performance is challenging stuff. The Harry Harlow Project delves into Harlow's own psyche, drawing on the evidence that he later in life suffered from depression, as well as his work. Minimal props and a clever use of projections, with detached artists/scientists manipulating this technology, and a twisted, expressive physical performance by James Saunders make this production emphatic, haunting and surprisingly personal. https://youtube.com/watch?v=6344mw5ZY6k
Michael Stevenson’s Introduccion a la Teoria de la Probilidad opens up an intriguing world of political power play. Amid the white shores of Contadora, a Pacific island off Panama, we meet an improbable list of leading characters: The last Shah of Iran, General Omar Torrijos, Manual Antonio Noriega and Patty Hearst. In the wings are Carter, Regan and Napoleon. Stevenson used the diaries of José Jesús Martinez, a close friend and aid of Torrigos, as a basis for the exhibition, and you’ll understand why as the story unfolds. Martinez, a professor of philosophy and mathematics, is humane, poignant and delicate as he ponders the individual and the universal. Take the time to watch the video work in which the tale of chance and tactics is told; it’s the centrepiece of the show. A series of photographs accompany and the ground floor gallery space holds a display of works from Stevenson’s earlier exhibitions.Image: Michael Stevenson, 1974, 2002, black and white photographic enlargement, 19.5 x 40.8 cm
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who know how to knit and those who don’t. And then there is Alana Clifton-Cunningham. Combining wool with leather, timber and semi precious stones, this Fashion and Textiles lecturer at UTS creates woolly wearables that hover somewhere between fashion, sculpture and bandage-chic. Using a combination of hand and machine knitting techniques, these finely crafted garments prove that wool has burst free from the shackles of multi-coloured scarves and frumpy jumpers. No longer can it be pigeonholed as the sensible yet dowdy winter necessity. Arise, oh wool, and take your seat at the table of cool. (re)skin: contemporary knitting coincides with Sydney Design 2009 and runs until August 20.
Dappled Cities are one of Sydney’s ‘it’ bands in the best possible sense. They’re cool, they wear Ben Sherman, and they have an amazingly original sound that just makes you want to bop your head around like one of those dashboard doggies. They will be touring their new album Zounds (out August/September) around Australia but you can catch them at the Metro on August 22, supported by their friends Philadelphia Grand Jury. When asked what he was most looking forward to on tour, lead singer Dave Rennick said “The best part of being in a band is touring. It's a great excuse to get fired from day jobs, hit the open road, and sleep with other grown men. On a more serious note, Dappled Cities take great pride and joy in playing live to the freaks across the country. It's a naturally euphoric experience.â€https://youtube.com/watch?v=S3AZo1ie2Ks
Chali 2na has one of the most unique and unforgettable voices in rap, his dramatic low bass baritone first heard with Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli, now as a solo artist with a new long awaited solo record released (after five years in the making). The fact that he’s touring with Jay Z’s once rival Nas just adds pack to the already very forceful punch. One of the statesmen of American hip hop, Nas is often applauded by championing rap with a social and political conscience. He supported Kanye West on his Australian last year and his dynamic and impressive performance was well-deserved of a headline slot, which is why it is great to see him return to Australia with a tour of his own. With Chali 2na on the bill and impressive local supports this will be a night of old-school beats and good vibes.
When I attempt to beatbox, I sound like a dog growling and spitting at the same time. It’s one thing to make beats with a drum, but how on earth can you do it with your mouth?Rahzel is the first rapper to make it big in “the fifth element†of hip hop - beatboxing. He not only creates beats, but masters full songs with absolutely no instrumentation. He can sing a chorus and provide a backing beat simultaneously; achieving bass, treble and vocals all in one. He’s wowed audiences across the world by performing tracks so slick it's as if they’ve been mastered in the studio. He’s the most energy efficient electronic instrument on the market, using only the power in his lungs. A former member of The Roots, Rahzel grew up saturated in the hip hop scene. He looked up to his cousin Rahim of the Furious Five, went to Grandmaster Flash shows and became a roadie for the Ultramagnetic MCs. His dream to gain respect for beatboxing as a true art form, and you can make it come true when he performs in November at OAF with with DJ JS-1 (from the Rock Steady Crew).https://youtube.com/watch?v=xgDZesi4ugU
Whether it be adult contemporary, gypsy hip hop (or gyp hop), avant-rock or blues-country, Garden Music has something for you. Sit down for a picnic and watch The (dead boring) Audreys, then get up and dance on the lawn when Unkle Ho provides the beats. It is an eclectic selection of bands they’ve chosen, but I suppose it has a rounded appeal between grey hairs and toddlers, though maybe Justine Clarke should have been added to the bill just to push somethingforeveryone to the extreme.Dan Sultan is a blues man about to release his second album, he is a much acclaimed singer and was part of Black Arm Band (Sydney Festival 2008) performing alongside the likes of Archie Roach and Jimmie Little. Unkle Ho is Kaho Cheung from The Herd’s solo project, mixing bounce and flavours of Romany into his gyp hop. The Audreys are Adelaidians who toe the roots/country line down the middle of the road, and Bridezilla are the very young Sydney band straight outta Newtown Performing Arts School, who were hand picked by Nick Cave for All Tomorrows Parties earlier this year and are fresh off a US tour with The Drones.If the sun is shining, it will be a nice day to take in the fresh air and cut a (picnic) rug.https://youtube.com/watch?v=PjAxF7evIFg
Bicycles are the wonder ingredient that make any activity rate higher on the Fun Scale. Need to buy milk? Ride down to the shops! Need to visit your grandma? Ride to her place! Need to break up with your partner? Ride away fast!Where to from here? is a four-hour celebration of the bicycle's talent for sprucing up our quality of life, featuring the collective visions of Sydney's creative brethren. Centre stage for the evening will be Spoke and Spool, a new fashion label by textile wunderkinds Alia Parker and Laura Pike, whose gregarious threads will be all over you when next you go a-wheel peddling.Sartorial cycles aside, there's futurism and utopia abounding throughout the evening, including Sydney power poppers Happenstance, NOW now curator Monika Brooks and formalist wizard Tully Arnot. It'll be more fun than sticking the ace of hearts in your spokes!Video from The Lady is the Boss (1983)https://youtube.com/watch?v=qve-THEDTs0
Catching the Northern Line, getting drunk on 99p White Lightening cider, looking for a girlfriend only to discover “all the girls I loved at school are already pushing pramsâ€.If anyone can paint a fine picture of growing up in London, it’s sharp-tongued 23 year-old Jamie T. Despite being criticized for being part of the same ‘I’m a rich kid pretending to be poor’ gang as private school kids Lily Allen and Luke from The Kooks, Jamie T might not be completely from the wrong side of the tracks, but his cheeky indie-rap sums up the darker truths of young life in London to an, um, “Tâ€, with a nice swish of political references to boot.Today’s young Billy Bragg brings his London lingo and lively indie ska to Sydney’s shores with his band The Pacemakers this week. Come dance a mosh-jig to the ironic pirate shanty Dance of the Young Professionals and indie dance floor hits Chaka Demus and Sticks and Stones all from his new UK number one album Kings and Queens.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dwh0Wn5vVwE
The Scare have been somewhat transient and homeless in Australia. Since leaving their native Sunshine Coast in Queensland, they have recorded a debut that was largely overlooked in Australia but landed them festival spots and good tours in the UK, US and Europe. And all the while they came home to play the occasional club show in dank and dusty rooms. Could Be Bad, the debut single from their second album Oozevoodoo has been the first time that they have graced our airwaves in a big way, receiving Triple J's big thumbs up. The tune is a nice slice of punk with a funked out beaty tinge. We're talking post-punk kinda whiteboy funk, ala The Rapture or Gang Of Four. The new album marks a collaboration with â€" and a first foray into production for â€" Daniel Johns (yes you know who he is) who invited the young bucks up to Newcastle to start pre-production on the album before relocating to a Central Coast studio. Johns has pushed the natural pop edge and jauntiness of the band further, with singer Kiss' angular and pompous vocal style brought to the fore on these more accessible and focused tunes.Their live show usually promises volatile and dysfunctional happenings, but after tours throughout the US, UK and Europe and recent tours of Australia, they will be match fit and seasoned, ready to play their new album to the inner west masses. Jack Ladder and Cabins will open the proceedings.https://youtube.com/watch?v=VmDRDFIZE84
Think about the desert.It is everything that we are not. Immense. Dry. Unyielding. On a geological timescale, the fate of our planet has been caught up in a tug-of-war between the deserts and the oceans since the lava first cooled.Yet, for the corporate world the desert is the source of life; black gold, yellowcake, and a whole ton of dead wood. Why else would a sane person stake a claim in those alien lands?In Strange Attractor, Sue Smith, writer of Bastard Boys and Brides of Christ, focuses in on the remnants of a construction party pinned down in Western Australia's Pilbara region after a destructive cylcone. While they wait for civilisation to return, the workers do their best to ignore the dusty boredom of the desert.Which is just doable, until the night another storm arrives.Image: Olivia Martin-McGuire
Gaining a fair bit of hype on the strength of a song called The Storm, Boy & Bear, a relatively fledgling Sydney 4 piece, will release a new single this month, continuing the alliteration with a song called Mexican Mavis. Praise has been running hot on the Unearthed website, with Triple J head honcho Richard Kingsmill commenting, "I think this is brilliant. Simple as that". The band started out as a solo project for Dave Hosking after he abandoned an EP of songs and teamed up with some other likely lads to focus on a more textured approach. B&B (no, not bed and breakfast) owe a decent debt to bands such as Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes, with layered harmonic vocals soaked in reverb, and intricate arrangements. Hosking has a nice voice and the band support it well, with simple but melodic instrumentation. I imagine the band will be good live, it would be nice to see all of the members holding down the lovely harmonies they have on record.Special guests on the evening will be Royal Chant and Bangers & Mash.https://youtube.com/watch?v=MH9ifwkPZO4
A standout talk at last years’ Biennale of Sydney was a confessional rant by visiting artist Ryan Gander. For an hour, Gander charged himself with the task of divulging every lie he had uttered in the course of making and promoting his work. This included admitting that a conceptual series of white cubes filled with various objects, exhibited at several notable venues, were in fact empty. And when realising he had lost the sacred stones used in one his works, Gander simply dug up some bricks in his backyard and shipped them off to be exhibited instead. Interestingly, the more confessions that tumbled from this pathological liar, the more I liked him and lapped up every word he uttered like a suckling babe. The artists exhibiting in Don’t Trust The Artist might not be as insatiable in their assault on audience-trust, but they tango with suspicion, delinquency, conspiracy and the sacrilegious like old pros. Curated by Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces director Alexie Glass-Kantor, Don’t Trust The Artist is an exhibition that will charm you with its wit and seduce you with its seeming availability, before leaving you scrambling trying to get the wool off your eyes. Image: Jackson Slattery, My Plastic Everything (detail from series), 2008.
The Philly Jays, as they are known to their fans and loved ones â€" and as Sydney-siders you should be one of these â€" have been smashing both stages and crowds to bits in the short time they've been together. To date, they have released one EP which whipped up a mix of punk and soul, garage and pop, with tales of lost love between. Each one of these tunes had the ability to get lodged in your head and punish you with its catchiness. I'm sure you would have heard Going To The Casino or I'm Gonna Kill You, and if you haven't, you've probably been living under water or in a far off snow covered country. Well, if you've been away or have missed out on the Philly Jays, then welcome back, and get along to this show. They put on a blistering monster of a live set. The band even held a National Philly Jays day last month, playing seven shows in one day around Sydney, so they should be well warmed up. The bearded duo of MC Bad Genius and Berkfinger have just put their constitutional juror's stamp on their debut album, the redundantly titled Hope Is For Hopers. It will be interesting to see if they expand much on their usual 2 minute pop blast.The Philly Jays must be intent on showing us Melbourne's fresh talent as they're bringing both 2 piece Kid Sam and Young Heretics up the Hume as supporting acts.https://youtube.com/watch?v=_o2rSLQeSrE
May I have your attention please. If you believe that food should taste good and be produced in a way that doesn't hurt the earth, its critters or your health, then whether you know it or not, you are part of the Slow Food movement. While Australians have been nattering about 'Slow Food' since 1995, Slow Food founder and President Carlo Petrini, has been banging on about it for twenty years. In his first public appearance in Australia, this High Priest of ethical eating will enlighten morally attuned gastronomes with his wisdom on consumption that rests on three simple principles: Good. Clean. Fair. A definite highlight of the Sydney International Food Festival, eager followers and pace-converts can catch a glimpse into why this fellow was listed as one of ’50 People Who Could Save the Planet’ by UK newspaper The Guardian in 2008. Or why Time Magazine crowned him ‘European Hero’ in 2004. Just don’t be disappointed if this green crusader arrives on stage sans cape fashioned from lettuce leaves.
Convicts, early settlers, lesbian covens, rape and vengeance. No, Old Sydney Town hasn’t re-opened its gates, it’s a screening of the long lost 1977 Ozploitation classic Journey Among Women in a remastered 35mm print. With the bulk of the cast stemming from feminist rock band Clitoris, Journey Among Women was a low down and dirty exploitation movie but with an unusual, female empowered, edge.It's hosted by David Stratton with a Q&A from writer/director Tom Cowen and co-star Nell Campbell. Nell Campbell famously went on to play Little Nell in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and David Stratton is a notorious Rocky Horror fan. So we predict he will end the evening by getting all giddy, donning the Frankenfurter fishnets and singing T-T-T-Touch me, I want to feel diiiirty to a baffled and horrified audience. You heard it here first.* Popcorn Taxi regrets to announce that this screening has been cancelled until further notice owing to factors out of their control.https://youtube.com/watch?v=NMb9tguy77U
The desert is a strange, lonely place. Cacti advance. A cat copulates with a coyote. Out there you have too much time to think. Anything is possible. As is nothing.Acclaimed playwright Jose` Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries), creates a double world in References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot. One is a dream, the other is real. Although it isn't entirely clear which is which.Gabriela (played with gusto by Olivia Stambouliah) â€" an army wife suffering from a desert relocation â€" stares at the moon and contemplates her husband’s (Stephen Multari) impending return. Wooed by both the moon (Lani John Tupu) and a boy-lover (Arka Das), Gabriela is a woman at sea (but in the desert, if you catch my meaning).Surreally poetic opening and closing scenes flank two relatively straightforward husband and wife in turmoil scenes. It’s an interesting juxtaposition. The cast breathe life into the first and last and it’s exciting to watch. In the centre two, however, the production dips slightly into sentimentality. Where the play changes pace, the production loses momentum and the scenes don’t have the poignancy they might.Nonetheless, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot has a strong cast and script and the production design heightens the sense of both the real and the surreal. With a few more runs they may just nail it. We have two double passes to giveaway for References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot on Tuesday October 6. Just email your details to winners@griffintheatre.com.au wth "Concrete Playground Salvador Giveaway" in the subject line for your chance to win. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nhX8-T626-c
Arduous employment, paranoia and fear of isolation are universal human experiences. In the grand tradition of social anxiety-steeped science fiction, Moon explores these experiences on a magnified scale: what if your job required you to oversee the mining of space minerals? What if you were completely alone on a space station for three years? What if your paranoia was accurate?The film follows Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) in the last two weeks of his stint on the Sarang moon base, working for green energy company Lunar Industries. Following a crash in his moon-buggy, Bell awakes back on the base to discover that returning home to his wife and child might not be as straightforward as he’d been led to believe.When a science fiction film is independently produced, intelligent, topical and suspenseful, as this one is, something has to give. In Moon’s case, it’s the character development. In a fifteen-minute time span, the slightly addled Bell we first meet transforms into a broken man, resigned to the seeming inevitability of his demise. However, we can forgive this, or even fail to notice it, as Rockwell manages to drive Bell’s physical and psychic deterioration to a mesmerizing, if slightly excruciating, level.https://youtube.com/watch?v=pIexG8179K8
Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France. From the brilliant and bizarre mind of Quentin Tarantino comes the ultimate revenge fantasy. Like the title’s misspelling suggests, Inglourious Basterds takes no heed of reality, turning the history of World War II on its head and serving up some bloodthirsty justice instead. What if Hitler, Goebbels and the entire Nazi elite were to be wiped out during a trip to the cinema? Doesn’t that sound exactly like Tarantino’s personal brand of revenge? The result is of course an entirely self-indulgent film, but one that is infectiously so. From its 2 ½ hour running time, with its long, long stretches of dialogue, to its delineated chapters â€" each with their own aesthetic style â€" Inglourious Basterds flirts tantalisingly with hubris. This is an auteur’s film; Tarantino even has a character spell out that this is his ‘masterpiece’. And yet his blatant love of cinema elevates the film from an exercise in narcissism to something wonderfully complex and dizzyingly referential. Indeed, an unofficial list of film references found in Inglourious Basterds is impressively long, while Tarantino â€" clearly unable to help himself â€" also released a trailer for the German propaganda film Stolz der Nation (Nation’s Pride) that premieres within his movie. Helping Tarantino bring his intractable fantasy to life is a remarkable cast of characters. Christoph Waltz’s astounding performance as “the Jew Hunter†is worth the price of admission alone, though Melanie Laurent’s revenge-fuelled cinema owner and Michael Fassbender as a British film critic turned commando are similar stand-outs. Brad Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine is pure, hilarious caricature, and probably as much fun to watch as it was to create. Inglourious Basterds may have a fairytale opening, and even a Cinderella slipper scene, but this blood stained love letter to cinema shows the Brothers Grimm ain’t got nothing on Tarantino.https://youtube.com/watch?v=X9uVFYuGn3w https://youtube.com/watch?v=B0lTVDyg4us
Sydney’s Sideways Hitchhiker are four young dudes thrashing-out. While relatively new to the scene, they’ve already won over the largely-jaded Sydney music industry and music media, largely because while their tracks are rooted in classic grunge and punk, their sound is more excitable and inspired than apathetic. Here you find four young guys with talent who aren’t afraid to show they mean business. Already, they’ve worked with BJB Studio’s Scott Horscroft (who produced their first demos), written tracks with Julian Hamilton from The Presets, and have had songs played on Triple J and community radio around the country. Want to hear what all the fuss about? They’re launching their new single at SOSUME at QBar, September 4.
Sydney artist Lauren Brincat has been awarded this year’s Helen Lempriere Travelling Arts Scholarship for her work It’s A Long Way To The Top. Brincat, who lives and works in the Inner West has made finalist a number of years, describes her practice as being interested in the crossover between rock ‘n’ roll and art; she is explores this through the motif of the drum kit. It’s A Long Way To The Top is a layered work; it’s myriad of meanings and associations are subtle, and will have you thinking for days.The exhibition of finalists features ten artists and two artists collectives/groups and, as expected, there’s a concentration on video art and the moving image. There’s no one uniting theme, but there’s an underlying edge of humour in the work of Sydney based artists Mitch Cairns and Adam Costenoble. Costenoble’s two-part video work, in which he delves into the absurd armed only with a pair of Speedos and an oversized beach ball, is hilarious. If that’s not your speed, there’s the celebration of fine craftsmanship in Rochelle Haley’s etched mirrors, and Mary MacDougall’s delicately painted glass.
Craig Davidson is one short-story writer in hot demand. His Rust and Bone collection, published in 2005, is about to be released as a feature film starring Marion Cotillard, but before that happens, a separate adaptation by award-winning Australian playwright Caleb Lewis is on stage now as part of the Griffin Independent season. Davidson's main theme is masculinity — so much so that he once went on a 16-week steroid cycle for research. He writes in the kind of rough, robust language that has earned comparisons to Chuck Palahniuk, but with less of that 'I have a blockbuster movie playing in my head' vibe. You get a lot of time to appreciate the language — his mingled with Lewis's — in this production of Rust and Bone, which has its three male characters narrate their stories of when their lives brushed with death. The first we meet is Ben (Wade Briggs), a womanising Sea World trainer forced into reflection after a stunt with a killer whale goes wrong. Alongside him, but not in his world, is James (Renato Musolino), a man it's hard to like, given he spends most of his time training pit bull terriers for dog fighting. When he has a humiliating appointment with an infertility specialist, gladness washes over the audience, and it's cruelly poetic that he carries a "diaper bag packed with narcotics, needles, and gauze". Lastly, there's Eddie (Sam Smith), a boxer with a heart of gold who's about to, fleetingly, feel what it's like to have a family. The three stories of Rust and Bone unfold simultaneously, with each man sharing a few lines before the action switches to the next. Unfortunately, I had trouble following all three stories. And before you yell "YouTube generation", let me finish. Aside from the first passage of monologue from Ben, the script doesn't let you spend a substantial amount of time with any character uninterrupted. When James and Eddie started talking, I was still listening to Ben, and that pattern continued. There's also very little of the sort of overlapping, of both language and events, that builds so much tension into something like the classic Speaking in Tongues. To me, this was a problem of the script, but it was not helped by the delivery, which had a samey tenseness throughout when light and shade was longed for. What lacks in the speech, however, is made up for in movement. Rust and Bone has exceptional choreography, which allows the performers to transform into minor characters in the other men's lives, and then with one sudden movement, shift cleanly back into the world of their main character. It's incredibly fluid and precise. Rust and Bone is a gentle exploration of tough ground and contains some powerful imagery of how men relate to corporeality and violence. But, like its concrete set and man-palette costumes, it's ultimately a bit grey.
It's common knowledge that having your music feature in a Tarantino movie is as good a seal of approval as winning a whole bunch of miniature phonographs (sorry Adele). But what about when cinema's most sonically discerning director decides you're so cool as to warrant on-screen visibility? Of course, it helps that The 5.6.7.8's look great with their shoes off, but there's no denying that they're also the most bad-ass all-girl Japanese surf-rock trio around. Before appearing in Kill Bill Vol. 1 they sung their songs mostly in Japanese and were a bit hit on the Tokyo urban clothing store circuit. That's where Tarantino discovered them on his way to an airport, offering the clerk double the retail price to purchase the CD. Now Sachiko, Yoshiko, and Akiko's savage take on American rock 'n' roll is synonymous with the Tokyo danger-surf and garage babe-rock scenes. Or what you'd imagine those to be like anyway. This is a rare chance to see the ladies perform at Oxford Art Factory alongside the equally era-defying La Mancha Negra and Mother & Son. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TIKORxPeFq8
Calling all Rastafarians. Come one, come all in celebration of reggae king, Bob Marley's, birthday. To mark the occasion, Queenie's is hosting a Jamaican feast complete with frozen drink specials and enough jerk to please the famed singer-songwriter himself. A one-off four course meal, complete with dishes named in pun-style like 'Cheer Up Cucumber', 'Shrimp Shake Down Party' and 'Stir It Up Stew', will take centre stage. Lest we make it obvious that Marley's hits will provide the Rasta soundtrack all night long. The dinner will be hosted on Wednesday, 6 February and tickets are $40 per person. This includes aforementioned four course meal, including starters, snacks, mains and desserts. For more information on Bob Marley’s Birthday at Queenie’s or to make a booking, email bookings@queenies.com.au or call 02 9212 3035.
If you are fashion-focused or innately sartorially splendid, chances are you have trawled though, a little longingly, webpages devoted to street style. The allure of these portraits is partly due to the artful arrangement of clothes the wearer is rocking, and partly, I’m sure, the fascinating streetscape beyond the fashionable finery. When you think about it, there is little that wouldn't look rockstar against a setting of cobblestones, cafes and kerbside bicycles. The scene beyond the subject hints at their story in a mid-moment snatch of someone else's daily life and, as such, the place itself becomes a part of the character. The most delicious of these fashion-focused streetscapes must be Paris. And for the most enchanting portraits of Paris as indeed subject and setting, you must go to see the Eugene Atget: Old Paris exhibition. Touted as the founder of photo-documentary, Atget tirelessly trawled the streets of Paris during the early 20th century and created some 30,000 prints. It was a time of change for Paris as the modernisation program took place and it is this collection of Atget’s old Paris that showcases his eye for the beauty, melancholy and the ephemerality of the old city. Here, the streets are celebrated: laneways are lingered on and Atget creates often surreal compositions of archways and sculptured stairways. There are hints of people and events – a scattering of garbage or a smudge of a fellow’s shadow – but Atget’s streets are mostly unpopulated, and there is something equally calming and unnerving about that. Paris is a place fuelled so dreamily by myth and romance it is near impossible to separate it from its cliched self, but here Atget shows us a city which is at times lost and decaying, other times jubilant and delightful, yet all the while familiar. When he knew a place was marked for destruction, Atget would note the address and date on the back of the print, preserving the building’s memory in anticipation of its death. (Trivia: look out for the not-yet famous photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue, captured by Atget in his street-style glory.) It is the first time a major collection of Atget's work has been showcased in Australia, and as such, expect crowds and chatter on the weekend. If you can, drop in midweek and languorously while away the time in the ever-mysterious, magical city of Paris. Image: Shop sign au Remouleur on the corner of the rue des Nonnains-d'Hyeres and rue de I'Hotel-de-Ville, 4th arrondissement July 1899
Two videos. On one screen, a beatboxer is in a studio. On the other, a break dancer, surrounded by concrete and graffiti. She’s responding to the sounds of the beatboxer. It starts slowly with a stretch of the neck and a flick of the foot. Gradually, out of the beatboxer’s scattered clicks, a full rhythm emerges, and suddenly they’re both going nuts, the dancer falling upwards and sliding across cardboard, in a performance that is disconnected by space and time, but united by music and movement. This is video artist Shaun Gladwell’s latest piece for the Art Gallery of NSW, and it’s called Broken Dance (Beatboxed). The artist is known for his videos of the body in motion in vast urban spaces. Here, by showing two videos simultaneously, the artist synchronises two disparate times and places. The videos play opposite each other — you can only watch them both peripherally, which emphasises the disconnect. The result is a work that is much more than the sum of its parts. It's a flat-out great piece of conceptual art. Simple but not simplistic, with enough layers of complexity to save it from gimmickry. The slow moments of quiet, where the beatboxer is swilling water and the dancer is pacing, make the hectic ones so much sweeter — you're just hanging out for these amazing performers to really crank it out. Perhaps the best thing about this work is people’s response to it — I saw people smiling to themselves in the big dark room, really engaging with it. Make sure you stick around; there are multiple videos to immerse yourself in, as well as a talk by the artist on Saturday, September 1 at 1pm.
Keen to discover some rad indie musicians but not to shuffle around a dark theatre trying not to slop your Carlton on your new oxfords? Well save your cash for some tastier libations, because summer’s best pop-up venue/bar/BBQ is bringing local music out of the dark and in to the dappled sunlight of the Seymour Centre Courtyard. Friday nights from 6pm see Sydney’s best emerging live acts take to the outdoor stage for an alfresco showcase of tunes that are new, good and free. Mark 16 November in your calendar for the restless textural riffs of Polar Knights, 7 December for the dreamy folk samplings of Lanterns and 25 January for the sophisticated Italo-funk seductiveness of Donny Benét. Other names you’ll be hearing a lot more frequently in the coming months include Jenny Broke the Window, Chook Race and Atom Bombs. Eats and drinks are available from the pop-up bar and BBQ, and roving performers (including magic by Jackson Aces and Dun Dun drum lessons with Todd Alleyn) will be popping up in between sets. Check the website for the full schedule.
The Iranian Film Festival Australia is returning for its second year and aims to showcase the best in modern Iranian cinema. Given the worthy and attention-grabbing cinema emerging from within that country's not so supportive conditions lately — including Oscar-winning A Separation, the defiant This Is Not a Film, and edgy Secret Cinema feature Circumstance — this is an exciting festival to catch. This year's opening night film, Ali Mosaffa's The Last Step, ponders the heartbreak of lost love. Other stunning films that will be showcased include the award-winning Facing Mirrors, a movie about challenging social expectations that tells the story of transgender Adineh, who crosses paths with Rana, a young mother working as a taxi driver while her husband is in jail. The Iranian Film Festival also offers discussions and seminars as well as a long list of films that span the genres. The films feature directors and actors who are both fresh to the film industry and established professionals. Immerse yourself in Iranian film and culture for this four-day festival.
This summer the Enmore and Metro Theatres will host a veritable animal kingdom showdown. Specifically it's bears taking centre stage, one of them with a collective of other animals at the Enmore early next year and four of them all together at the Metro this November. The introductory performance is by Brooklyn quartet Grizzy Bear, who in spite of the more ferocious-sounding moniker make the friendlier tunes of the two bands. Their silvery sound you're probably aware of from their 2009 album Veckatimest if you weren't yet negotiating the pages of Pitchfork when their equally good debut Yellow House came out in 2006. Grizzy Bear have now released their highly anticipated fourth album Shields, a psychedelic blend of tunes that are more accurately described as emotive and intricate rather than obscure and intricate. Hear a bunch of them ahead of their appearance at Harvest and reconsider your elected spirit animal. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tjecYugTbIQ
Spring has sprung, and in the spirit of the season of youth, the romantically named Primavera 2012 ('Spring 2012') exhibition has opened at the MCA. The annual exhibition celebrates the creativity of Australia's young artists who are emerging bright-eyed and bleating into the art world. Here, representations of the self are portrayed in place, machine, and increments of time. Time is significant on these intimate journeys. Teho Ropeyarn's work invites the viewer to share in his painstaking and patient cutting of vinyl to create the sharply graphic prints. With these prints, Ropeyarn tells stories which, having been passed down over generations, are buffed with time. Kate Mitchell's My Life in Nuts is indeed an exercise in patience, the piled-up peanuts representing each day she has been alive. In Moving Out Justine Varga celebrates her final days in her cherished studio space. Here, we capture both the minutes and the minute: subtle changes are introduced in Justine's space, and the viewer can take the time to reflect on their own surroundings. Output = Plotter sees a rabbit plotter scrawl with a biro, with which Benjamin Forster will have you questioning the meaning of drawing, and the needed knowledge in mark-making. Discourse is, too, an automated, print-based work; the luscious tangle of receipt-roll paper featuring an endless stream of philosophical dialogue. Todd McMillan's study of albatrosses is at once haunting and calming, the whirring sound of the 16mm camera's projection a pleasingly mechanical resonance of the sea's waves. The symbolism of the great seabird as the souls of those lost at sea is not lost. If this spring exhibition is indeed a time-based journey of youth, Anastasia Klose is, perhaps, the wayward adolescent; the artist brilliantly re-enacts a period of unemployment in an attempt to recuperate ‘lost time’ and provoke new ideas. Delight in the disco ball, music and the irresistible charm of Klose, for all her spunk and, indeed, funk. Dion Beasley’s whimsical prints are personal, compelling and a reminder of, as the MCA writes on their website, the ‘comic absurdity of life.’ Margaret Atwood wrote that "in the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." A day at the MCA is often an exercise in deep (and dirty) thought, though at Primavera 2012, the memories one takes of mindfulness, play and delightful absurdity should stick around longer than Atwood's under-fingernail grime. Still from Kate Mitchell's Fall Stack.
The amazing spell of cinema is such that we are still fascinated by the same stories, albeit sometimes with different actors and set within a slightly different context. Although we all more or less know the ending to most blockbuster films (‘good’ will almost always triumph over ‘evil’, etc), our patience and attention is sustained by our desire to witness the predictable conclusion, to ‘see how it all happens’ (although we of course know that ‘it’ will happen). Film is our cherished and attractive partner, even if it is repetitive and seemingly forgetful. Why is this? Can the history of cinema reveal the history of some twentieth century human behaviour? When we enter that dark room with friends and strangers what are we participating in? Other than the image, what did cinema put in motion? Until July, on various Fridays and Saturdays, Christopher Hartney, lecturer at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, will speak about a range of trends and questions concerning our relationship with film. Some topics of concern include ‘speed’, ‘horrors of technology’, ‘the new violence’, and ‘slapstick in the hall of mirrors’ (accompanied by full-length screenings). If I may politely poach from Stanley Kubrick, “a film is — or should be — more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later”. This series of lectures looks likely to provide a place for that ‘later’.
Last year Concrete Playgrounders were introduced to NT Live, the ingenious, democratising brainchild of the UK's National Theatre, whereby stage performances are beamed into cinemas around the world. While Australia doesn't quite get the show 'live', we do benefit from having the recorded shows screened for us over a weekend. The Chauvel, Hayden Orpheum, and Dendy Opera Quays have all signed up for NT Live's latest broadcast: the stage adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Nation. Beloved for his Discworld series, Pratchett now maroons an oddly-coupled nineteenth century boy and girl on an island in the wake of a tsunami. The dramatisation sees acclaimed playwright Mark Ravenhill following in the footsteps of previous family-friendly NT shows, including a production of Philip Pullman's best-selling His Dark Materials series. Pratchett's colourful parallel world is brought to exuberant life on stage, where Nation promises to be an enthralling adventure for adults and children alike. https://youtube.com/watch?v=fmG_dDHeDBE
The Brian Jonestown Massacre's latest single boldly repeats the phrase "let's go fucking mental" — and anyone who knows the band, has seen the film DiG!, or has witnessed one of their shows knows they mean it. DiG! is one of the best rockumentaries ever made; it paralleled the trajectories of the BJM and the Dandy Warhols and detailed drug abuse, physical abuse (on stage fisticuffs), BJM head honcho Anton Newcombe's messiah complex, and Dandy's frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor's inflated ego. You really have to see it. Anton Newcombe left America and his woes behind to record Who Killed Sergeant Pepper? between Iceland and Berlin, delving into some industrial psychedelia and even some gypsy influences, mixing and adding to his patent sound. Call him deranged, call him genius — maybe both at the same time — but there is no questioning that he continues to make really good music. From various reports, recent live shows have been going smoothly without all-in brawls or big mishaps, so get down to the Metro. Over 18's only, but kids, they are doing an AA show at the Factory a few days later. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1UUKbdjokHE
For Joseph Kosuth, poster boy for 1960s Conceptualism, art is effectively L.I.N.G.U.I.S.T.I.C. Or in his own words: "Fundamental to this idea of the arts is the understanding of the linguistic nature of all art propositions". What are the consequences of this and what did it mean for art history? Under Kosuth’s umbrella, the visual component we often think about as being fundamental to art, as well as the emotional expectancy we often carry with us when pondering the turbulent lives of the great masters, are simply obstructions blocking access to the essence of the idea being communicated. In this way, when we look at Kosuth’s work we are confronted with visual art that subverts the very notion of the visual and insists on being read. For some, Kosuth typifies the mechanical and cold humourlessness of conceptual art in his attempt to abstain from all retinal fun ("administrative aesthetics", as Benjamin Buchloh would say), yet for others he holds the torch for Marcel Duchamp’s teachings by placing art in the "service of the mind" and continuing that favourite artist's enterprise, self-reflexivity. So, if we can imagine the walls of time dissolved for a moment, what might Kosuth say in response to Cézanne when he announced "an art which does not have emotion as its basis is not an art"? If you are interested in an answer attend Kosuth’s anticipated and propitious lecture. To reserve a place surf to here.
This is a band that fans would feel need no introduction. If you are a fan --> ticket details over to the right there, but you've probably snapped one up already. If you're not a fan, may I ask, what have you been doing all this time? They started in 1984 and, unlike many a recent touring act who should've packed their amp stacks in already, Dinosaur Jr. (nee Dinosaur) are still goddamn gold as ever. When Johnny said "stay gold" in The Outsiders, ol' Ponyboy J.Mascis must have been listening. Here's the 101. Dinosaur Jr. started out in '84 from the ashes of what is the best named hardcore punk ever, Deep Wound (seriously!). Back then, Dinosaur Jr. consisted of Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph. There were trials, there were tribulations and a few line-up changes. Murph and Barlow left and then they came back. The planet's equilibrium was once again restored and all is well with the world. If I were writing the voice-over for a movie about them, this is the point where a deep male voice would say "...the world of alternative rock, that is!" Featured prominently in Michael Azerrad's excellent account of the American indie underground scene Our Band Could Be Your Life, Dinosaur Jr. are fuzzed up rock dudes who mix melody and frenzy and are best experienced live, even just to see Mascis' long white wizard locks in the flesh. Supported by Deaf Wish. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TgTJtdn6VjM
If you’ve been to a Deep Sea Arcade gig, you know it’s all about the swagger, the bop, the swing and the sonic scuttle, with a deep-ocean chill capable of piercing fathoms of salt and carbon. We’re not talking about the music either. This is all the coin-bag jangle of lead singer Nic McKenzie, an onstage, drawly dance fast becoming renowned. But it’s the tunes that kickstart the whole circus, so it’s fair to say they surf the same wave. Lonely in Your Arms is a rollicking, ribald piece of psychedelia, with hairy winks to the Zombies and the Kinks, as well as ample shades of The Easybeats. It's launching at what sometimes seems The Last Club On Earth, GoodGod, on January 28th, supported by Jingle Jangle DJs and a ‘special guest’ (hopefully not their mother). Lonely in Your Arms is the follow-up to their breakout single Don’t Be Sorry and is sure to make just as much of a splash. In the meantime, start practising your Blue Beat Swim Swing. It’s a double barrel dance move, do it. Send your details to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with 'Deep Sea Arcade Giveaway' in the subject line for our chance to win a double pass.
If you've ever seen Playing Beatie Bow you'll know that The Rocks is full of surprises. On Australia Day, this amazing historical location will once again offer a spectacular site for adventure, although this time in more of a feel-good-free-music-and-events way than a going-back-in-history-to-early-colonial-days-with-a-creepy-Irish-girl way. Among the alleys of The Rocks you will hear the all female Martensita choir, and be surprised by roving performers Arfur 'n' Charley and Chrome. You can also sit in the park and listen to Bertie Blackman, or head to the Overseas Passenger Terminal and rock out with Dappled Cities and Ash Grunwald. Celebrate Australia Day with sound between First Fleet Park and Hickson Rd - just when you're trying out the Megaphone Project, don't go shouting any children's rhymes - you never know what might happen. More information on the website.
Musician Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) is a man who says he likes it when things “that aren’t specifically dance music work as dance music as well.” Which is probably why he’s described alternately as intelligent and as having made brain-aimed music disguised as some nightclub sound. Kieran Hebden is a British-born musician who has worked with the work of Thom Yorke, Aphex Twin and even folk-rocker Beth Orton. The Metro is playing host to a brief night of Hebden, who, as Four Tet, will musically ascend the George Street stair in support of his new album Pink. It’s a Sydney visitation you’ll likely be thankful for, from pelvis to cerebellum. Supporting on the night will be locals Jonti and Albatross.
If you rock up to Oxford Art Factory for How To Dress Well expecting a tutorial in accessorising and shoe/belt combos, you may be disappointed. Though Tom Krell is a stylish fellow, his musical project How To Dress Well is less a Trinny and Susannah approach to making over frumpy office ladies and more an ethereal approach to making over early '90s R&B. "Cold Nites" off his latest LP Total Loss sounds like the introspective soundtrack to the comedown that follows when your average champagne bottle-popping hip hop music video finishes. Setting soaring falsetto atop moody, sparse beats and instrumentation, How To Dress Well, like contemporary The Weeknd, is a creative, sensitive producer showing R&B can be smarter, more understated and, yes, more stylish than you'd expect.
The art market is cut throat and live-art death matches let you see that competition live. With Secret Walls in summer hibernation, Name This Bar is doing its best to take up some of that art-fighting slack with its Art Battles series. First up, Art Battles — The Dubai Series. In its opening aesthetic salvo for the year, local artists are rhapsodising on the theme of East Meets West for a ticket to Dubai, with a series of semi and grand finals strung over the weekend. Mark Lindsell faces down Aurelia Thursday night, while Nick Ford faces off against Ayesha Rose Friday. Sunday night, the winners get together again for their big chance to wing it overseas. Image: Art Battles.
Sex shops, a bit of Chinatown, some good book stores, a nice cinema, the edge of the theatre district. Today’s Soho is still an inviting London neighbourhood, but the present-day place stands a long way from its more dangerous, anarchic and subversive past incarnation. The Art Gallery of NSW brings a bit of this historic disorder to in its Wednesday night Summer in Soho series, accompanying the Gallery’s foray into the world of Soho resident Francis Bacon. Artists, speakers and performers linked to or knowledgeable in Bacon’s boho Soho will be gracing the Gallery’s main stage, every week, with a neat film program alongside. Not least on the speaking line up is January 9th’s powerful double act of Aussie alt artist Anthony Lister preceding reminiscences of Bacon, the man, by Wendy Whiteley. February 6, singer Bertie Blackman will share stories of her famous father Charles‘ time as Bacon’s neighbour, while on February 13, Barabara Dawson, talks about the Olley-like endeavour of moving Bacon’s creatively messy workspace from London to Dublin. Full details on the gallery site. Artists talks usually start at 5.30, celebrity talks usually at 6.30. Image by Mario Sanchez Prada.
US DJ Marcellus Pittman (Unirhythm, 3 Chairs, Detroit) is headlining Boom Boom NYE — a secret, underground party for those in the know. There are a limited number of tickets to the Boom Boom parties, featuring the Paradise Lost ensemble and DJs Daniel Lupica and Karim. The party starts at 9pm, tickets are $50 including champagne and canapes, and details of the secret underground CBD oasis are revealed to partygoers only.
