Prefer your live music raw, unearthed and a little left of centre? Robbie Avenaim and his experimental tunes might be just what the doctor ordered. The musician/composer has been picking apart drum kits and turning them into creative new noise-makers for the past 25 years. With a tireless desire to unleash new sounds into the world, he’s now invented S.A.R.P.S, a semi automatic robotic percussion system and he’s set to show it off, as well as a bunch of other wacky sounds, in the first staging of The NOW now Solo Series. Held at Surry Hills Library, the series will showcase a string of exploratory solo musicians. Striving to expand our musical education, the series invites artists from all over Australia to participate, as well as the odd international act. And to ensure we really understand what we open our lobes up to, each artist will be offered a Q&A forum with the audience once the set wraps. Musicians will also have the opportunity to perform a second set if they’re feeling up to it. That’s how loose and exploratory it’s going to get.
While Peter Elfes’ photographs are spectacularly striking, capturing an entire colour wheel’s worth of natural phenomena, it’s what lies beneath the surface of each image that truly fascinates. Snapping the wonders of South Australia’s Lake Eyre as well as parts of North West NSW, Elfes delivers The Green Desert: a low level, bird’s eye view of the impact water and time have made on the Australian landscape. And though the elements have certainly taken their toll on the land, the beauty we’re left with rivals that of Sydney Harbour and its mainstay attractions. The images are so bloody gorgeous, they don’t look real. As the lake and other bodies of water transition into land, vibrant lashings of reds as rich as rubies and greens as dazzling as emeralds appear in an almost cartoon-like fashion. You’ll be second-guessing everything you see as Elfes’ infectious appreciation for Mother Nature washes over you. Not surprisingly, he's being recognised for his masterpieces. These snaps won him the NSW Parliamentary Landscape Prize in 2011. Rightly so. The Green Desert will be showing at Palm House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquaries Road (from 1 February – 28 February) and Customs House, Circular Quay (from 2 February – 28 May).
Big, brash, boozy, beautiful — Sydney is many things, but it’s mainly its beauty that the Damien Minton Gallery is seeking to highlight in Five Bells. Using a passage from Kenneth Slessor's poem of the same name as a starting reference, this group exhibition hopes to raise discussion by visually exploring the elements that make up our harbour city. Along with the photos, sketches and paintings there will be a range of readings and talks given by prominent local authors. To Gail Jones Sydney is a brilliant summer’s day around the on the iconic tourist hub of Circular Quay, which provides the introduction to her character-driven meditation on the city Five Bells. To Martin Edmond (Dark Night: Walking with McCahon) it’s the starting point of artist Colin McMahon’s mysterious midnight pilgrimage through the Sydney Botanic Gardens, and to Fiona McGregor the contrast between the affluent suburb of Mossman and a gritty Kings Cross tattoo parlour. Whether it's blooming jacarandas or Oxford Street eccentrics, you'll rediscover something to add your own impressions of the city.
Artist-run MOP Projects has been lauded since its early days, while Galerie Pompom has just turned up — newly nestled in what was once MOP's tiny front gallery. With some pretty obvious cross-over between them in staff and cement, the competition between the two galleries is unlikely to be too rancourous. But still, as the Art & Australia Collection 2004-2012 and Galerie Pompom's first Group Show inaugurate a new era of synergy and dissonance, a question arises: how do the two spaces stack up? Galerie Pompom is just big enough for a desk, three walls and glass doors. Within, Isabella Pluta's Untitled #2 (sham ruin) duplicates rustic awe of rural outskirts by drowning a natural arch in ethereal colour, Sarah Mosca applies binoculars to a similar scene and and Rochelle Haley's Diamondback lays out a prostrate turtle, echoing its natural symmetries with an encrusted gem. The space may be small, but there's a huge selection of art here considering its size, boding well for future solo shows. If Pompom is primarily a best-of, so is MOP's current offering. Its roomier premises are occupied by artworks originally featured on Art and Australia's back cover, having gone on to win the Art & Australia/Credit Suisse Private Banking Contemporary Art Award. Emma White's the Plastic Arts is a surprisingly effective claymation loop, Grant Stevens' the way combines a working car stereo with three glossy panels of forest scene and contemplative music and Archibald winner Del Kathryn Barton draws an eerie, hawk-like girl holding a bird, keen stares whipping back from the canvas. But Christian de Vietri's 2nd Law steals the show. A meditation on basic thermodynamics (in short, things get messy) it is a life-size, melted fridge. Rubber seals stay intact and rear radiator panels stretch, leaving it to ooze away like half a white scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's an unique front-runner for this gallery face-off, the disfigured fridge winning it for MOP. But despite the overwhelming power of a single whitegood, Pompom remains a new space with plenty of promise. Galerie Pompom is open Wednesday—Saturday, 11-5, MOP opens 1-5 Sunday & Monday, 1-6 Thursday—Saturday. The Art & Australia show closes March 25, the Pompom's group show on April 1.
While bold lashes of colour and unique canvases (brush stroked skateboards, anyone?) no doubt demand attention, the artist’s struggle to distinguish himself is what has, in fact, inspired him. Brad Robson’s first solo exhibition, a paint work homage to New York City, is the result of everything he learned during a recent study trip and consequential month-long residency in New York. Describing his muse as “a place that’s so large and has so many people that it seems impossible to stand out from the crowd, blending in with the masses or being swallowed up by the day to day grind,” Robson’s works focus on the city’s skyline. But the rumblings of New York’s fast-paced daily life ensure his paintings are no tourist’s interpretation. Drippings and sponged dabbings, layered upon a colour wheel’s worth of tones, create frenetic, wildly imaginative scenes. Robson’s ability to convey the city’s energy through severely abstract imagery is remarkable. And each work is really just super pretty, to boot. The skateboards will obviously be a talking point. Robson has taken one of the most vivid representations of street culture and blasted his signature mural work across each deck. The Sydney-based artist has worked his magic over walls at the SBS studios, Erskinville’s Hive Bar and the Australian Museum’s fabulous educational hub, the Jurassic Lounge which often features live music and further after-hours revelry.
There’s little doubt hard-core electronica fans have been clamoring to get their hands on this mighty hot ticket. Michael Rother, a German instrumentalist who drew an international cult following through performing briefly with the ever-experimental act, Kraftwerk and then launching the bands Neu! and Harmonia throughout the 70s, is set to perform selected works with two of his old jam buddies. Joined by his former Harmonia bandmate, Dieter Moebius as well as his Neu! bandmate, Hans Lampe, the synth king (seriously — Google some of his work if you’re unfamiliar with it) will be playing a stack of band works, as well as many of his solo tracks. Rother, who is rarely known to tour his music let alone tour it as a reunion of sorts, released nine of his own solo albums between the late 70s and 2004. As an entire body of work, Rother’s contributions to the world of electronica and rock have established him as one of the music game’s most influential players. Much of the trance and electro-pop we love today are probably sounds that first came out of Rother’s instruments. If you’ve secured a ticket, expect ample hypnotic, space-like beats. To delight further, instrumental rockers Baptism Of Uzi are booked to play support. That’s one helluva jam-packed night of marvellous sounds, if we’ve ever heard of one.
Fraser Street Studios is bringing a group of artists together to talk about art you can't sell, letting you decide if it's better to make art that comes with a paycheck, or trade economic constraints for arctic freedoms. Uncollectable Art is moderated by Das Superpaper's Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, and featuring ideas from ARIs, Primavera almunus and Squatspacer Keg de Souza, and performative walker Sarah Rodigari. The afternoon should leave you with a better appreciation for — or at least a stronger opinion about — the sorts of ephemeral things that are hard to sell, impossible to pack for art spaces and on occasion delightful to witness. RSVP online. Strategies for Leaving and Arriving Home image by Adeo Esplago. For more info on Art Month 2012, check out our Ten Best Things to See and at Art Month 2012.
Sydney artist Kath Fries gets about. Dropping sculpture in cemeteries, winning her way to Tokyo with the Japan Foundation's New Artist Award and now a selection of installations in Millers Point's for Scorch at galleryeight. The show casts tree branches in bronze, mixing them into art with nylon, charcoal and a touch of mess. For her Art Month talk, Beer and Fries, Kath gets combined in conversation with MCA Curatorial Assistant Megan Robson and galleryeight director Peter Cramer. At the talk's end, galleryeight's geographical advantages get used to good effect, finishing with a free craft beer-tasting next door at the Lord Nelson Hotel. RSVP info@galleryeight.com.au Image: Kath Fries, Hold dear, 2011, bronze, nylon and charcoal, dimensions variable. For more info on Art Month 2012, check out our Ten Best Things to See and at Art Month 2012.
Art Month's Art Cycle combines the need to know with a two wheel tour, taking Art Month attendees on one of four itineraries of galleries around town. An Inner West circuit skirts Newtown galleries, Annandale and Leichhardt, with a finish at At the Vanishing Point and the night-garden-making Tortuga Studios, while a Chippendale and CBD tour pings Customs House before cruising inner-city highlights like Gaffa and Serial Spacebefore ending up at First Draft. Bourke Street's foray touches Dank Street, the National Art School and Artspace, and the Paddington excursion exercises you from the Sherman Foundation through Alaska Projects up downhill to Coo-ee Aboriginal Art down by Bondi Beach. Bookings are essential. Email info@artcyclesydney.com with your name, mobile and the tour you prefer. Art Cycle recommends bringing water, food cash, a mobile, spare tube/tube or repair kit, tools and weather protection. Helmets compulsory. For more info on Art Month 2012, check out our Ten Best Things to See and at Art Month 2012.
If you’ve ever been to Spain or Mexico no doubt you’ve mumbled the words yo no hablo español, for better or for worse. But even if you’ve spent your whole life in Sydney you’ll realise that you do know a bunch of Spanish words like hola, taco, bueno, tequila, amigo and mariachi. These few words are sure to get you off to a good start! In 2011 photographer Christopher Morris took this attitude and his medium format camera to Central North Mexico and captured everyday images in parts of the country rarely seen. His spectacular photographs of Mexico are rugged, epic and deserted, and attest strength of character to the people who live amongst the mountainous caverns, deserted, dusty streets and cactus-punctured streets. Christopher Morris is the first artist taking the walls at Gallery 2010, a new contemporary curator-run art space in Surry Hills. At the launch event on Thursday night a limited edition 50 page book of the photographs published by Izrock will also be available. Vamos amigos! Image: Christopher Morris
Carnage is originally a play by Yasmina Reza, now adapted to screen by Roman Polanski. The translation from one format to the other creates a stifling atmosphere; the viewer is trapped in the apartment where the entire movie takes place, and although it is only 80 minutes, it is based far more on dialogue than action, which makes it a little stagnant at times. For any other plot, this could be the film's downfall, but for Carnage, it allows for a spectacularly tense degradation of the veneer we create to tell ourselves (and others) that we are living a fulfilling life. The film starts with a long shot of kids playing in the park on a sunny day, a seemingly innocent scene until you realise one of them has a stick in his hand and is wielding it dangerously and then hits another kid in the face with it. Immediately after, we see the attempted reconciliation between the parents of Ethan (the victim) and Zach (the wielder of the stick). Like in the opening scene, it starts innocently enough, with both parties attempting to be courteous and understanding even though they are obviously from different social circles. Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly) have even bought tulips all the way from The Netherlands for the visit of Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christoph Waltz) visit, as if painting a scene of domesticity can create an environment where they can act with graciousness and civility, presenting a united front with their spouse. What follows is a wonderful piece of orchestral music; violins open as the dialogue waltzes and dances in major keys. As time moves on, double basses creep in as a hint of tension becomes perceptible and builds, until the violins take over again and all is smoothed out. Each crescendo becomes louder and more discordant until the truth painfully is revealed: Alan's lack of care for his son, the frustration Nancy feels about his all-encompassing job, Penelope's despair that no-one actually holds any moral values or cares about societies other than their own and her hurt at Michael's lack of support. As they start to drink malt whisky, the men bond over their misogyny and it becomes a gender battle, with quotes from Ivanhoe and cigars to accentuate the point. The movie is beautifully orchestrated and has a wonderful, lilting emotional rhythm but I was left feeling empty after it. If it was because it seemed like what the film was trying to say was interrupted mid-speech, leaving us only with half-truths, or because I was depressed about the sentiments shown, I'm not certain. It is definitely worth watching though, as it's bound to spark heated debate and varying opinion. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ybiax8oozWM
Deep in their basements, in their garages and underground, a movement has begun. A reprise of nerds, hackers and scientists have been gathering together to share and create 'strange things with electricity'. By day these are office workers, pencil pushers and professionals but by night they come alive; mashing together ideas of art and science into Frankenstein creations. They are transformed into Dorkbots . All over the world these groups have been gathering to foster a love of interdisciplinary creations'. In Sydney we have witnessed such amazing projects as destructive robots, light scythes and non-Newtonian fluids. Now it's time to showcase some of the best and dorkiest projects. In this, the 4th annual Dorkbot group show there will be a new take on the classic snake game from MPU, electronic sound art and biofeedback devices for your dorkish pleasure. But Dorkbot is not about showing-off. It's about getting people together with a love of experimental and interdisciplinary art. So in the spirit of Dorkbot, spark a conversation or share an idea at the group show and embrace your inner dork.
Having double vision is a skill rather than a weakness at this year’s Cinema Alley. The annual one-night street screening of video artwork presented by 4A gallery returns to Chinatown on Friday with a lineup of two channel (two screen) works playing alongside the standard single channel screenings. The unique event takes place as part of Sydney’s Chinese New Year celebrations, presenting films from both Australia and Asia. Going beyond the project’s usual aim to generate discussions relating to contemporary Asian culture in the city, it will encourage viewers to experience film in a different way. Through layering and collision of moving images, what will (hopefully) result is an enriched cinematic experience through the generation of new meanings. The bar opens at 7pm for an 8pm screening, though if you have enough trouble trying to focus on a movie while simultaneously checking your Facebook it’s probably a good idea to go easy on the beers. And though it’s a free event it has proven to be rather popular, so secure your seat early.
Hard work and circumstance led British artist Chrissie Abbott to fall into her star role illustrating Brit pop diva Little Boots' trippy CD covers. Her geometric designs manage to radiate all the fertile energy of '70s collage while never failing to look like they've been projected back from some mad, polychromatic future we've all yet to achieve. It's a vision Abbott is bringing to Sydney for Casual Cosmology, her show at China Heights, which will show off the pulsing ebbs and flow of this strange new world. A recent Aussie interview with Abbott described her first glimpse of her artwork at rest on a commercial billboard as a moment where "the universe has shifted a little." In Sydney, she plans to create some new worlds of her own, taking bits and pieces of the now to highlight her vision of the future. Setting aside more commercial vibes, the show will expound her theories of nascent days to come with her trademark mix of the everyday at play amongst the ethereal. Cosmology's time in Sydney is pretty brief, so don't miss your chance to come face to face with the future, and smile. Casual Cosmology is open 6-9PM Friday 27, and 12-5PM on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29. Image by Chrissie Abbott
Tongue in a mousetrap? Breathing fire? Spinning on aerial acrobatic ropes? Roll up, Roll up: The circus is here! No, not that crappy one up the street where the fairy floss machine is about all on offer, pitched to a warbled music-box soundtrack; this is an amazing long weekend full of silly, silly antics, mind-boggling acrobatics, circus stunts that make you check your vision, awe-inspiring aerial acts, jaw-dropping jugglers, sickening sword-swallowers, comedy to thaw your heart and more. The one and only Hoopla — Australia's biggest annual circus, sideshow and street theatre festival — is coming to Darling Harbour and dazzling Sydney for five days over the Easter long weekend. This year's festival features three sensational international artists plus some pretty freaky Australian acrobats. The Chipolatas (UK) present Gentlemen of the Road: These guys will wow audiences with their unique and high-energy performance presenting unparalleled physical feats and buzzing circus skills backed with live squeezebox and break beats. Leandre and La Tal (Spain) present Demodes: Gotta love clowns. Who on Earth is afraid of clowns? Especially not those wound up in a tragicomedy about three of them being lost, cast out by a changing world and ... told in classic clown language. Becky Hoops (Canada): Hula-hoops are ubiquitous, but still, few can perfect this art. Becky Hoops will not only have her audience feeling like inadequate hoopists but in stitches with her absurd characters and her many crazy anecdotes. The Little Red Trapeze Company present Ready for Takeoff: Soaring high above the ground, these daring acrobats will fly, flip and float through the air with incredible precision and timing. Beautiful acrobatic balancing, hilarious slapstick comedy and truly heart-stopping stunts. As dusk approaches, get your ticket to one of the hottest shows in the performing arts scene with sexy vaudeville and freakazoid sideshow acts in the Big Top. So go run, play and frolic all day and night at Hoopla. Daytime performances go from noon-5pm everyday of the long weekend, and after-dark shows from 6-10pm. All outdoor entertainment is free, and this year indoor events can be pre-booked online. Woot!
Weaving isn't always something that fills modern art enthusiasts with a shot of adrenaline. Weaving gets recognition from classical forebears and local excursions, but it's not usually sitting at the centre of attention. Freshly mounted at the Object Gallery Women With Clever Hands collects weaving by women from Gapuwiyak, in Arnhem Land. Originally shown at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, this show is making its Sydney debut. While the text and explanatory pieces around the gallery are focused on the skilled processes, the hooks and whorls of the weaving processes, as a visitor this exhibitions is all about colour. Bean reds, cyanide greens and glorious, earthy oranges that burn along the back wall. The textures and colours are most familiar from seeds and beans, to the urban eye, but they come straight from the Territory. Mixed in with the Smarties yellow of Lucy Malirrimurruwuy Wanapuyngu's Tubular Basket Mindirr 2009 are beetroot purples dyed from a native plum tree. Margaret Ngangiyawuy Guyula's string bags own emo-like stripes, their little loops hung in red, brown and beige like soft links of chain. Stars of the show are the weaved mats by Ruby Gubiyarrawuy Guyula, Patsy Mamukan Bidingal, Nancy Walinyinawuy Guyula, and others, which are hung across the back wall. They're woven with earthy, reddy-orange fibres, making a wall of fringed, orange suns. The layers of blue and grey mixed in make the effect stronger. Upstairs in the tiny project gallery are necklaces (beaded subtle, elegant or chunky), more mats and a pair of spirit figure "dolly dollys". It's simple stuff, but simple things carry weight. The colours are strong, and together these circles, stripes and layers of art leave you wondering why you don't pay more attention to everyday weavings, and the craft behind them. Images: Baskets (batjik) by Margaret Ngangiyawuy and Joyce Milpuna. Photos by Leise Knowles.
Envisioning yourself rather anchorless after spending the Easter break at home on the couch, noncommittally watching Australia's Got Talent and gormandising leftover chocolate eggs? Well, idle no longer, because the Sydney Comedy Festival is giving you myriad comedy nights to attend. Between April 24 and May 12, there are 97 shows comprising 1200 hours of delicious, belly-rupturing hilarity — from top-billed comedians to outrageous musical comedies. Internet sensation The Axis of Awesome will perform their Tour of 2006. Apparently they've had 40 million hits on YouTube — probably from people checking out that rather deft 'Four Chord Song' number. Now the Time Out Sydney Best Show 2010/2011 award winners return with new songs, classic manhandled hits and brand-new jokes about Benny's height. Dingalingdingding. Well-established UK Acts Akmal and Jimeoin will also feature. For the first time in history, Akmal will be appearing in "high definition 3D" (glasses not provided). Meanwhile, Jimeoin is offering pure, simple, good old craic — nothing too gimmicky for the comedy classicists out there. Sketch comedy stars of Edinburgh and Montreal Idiots of Ants (2010 Chortle Award Winners and 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominees), are coming to Sydney for the first time to deliver a glorious marriage of rock 'n' roll hysteria with sharply brilliant comedy. Daniel Kitson returns with his particular brand of morose-comedic, oddball storytelling. His new show, Where Once Was Wonder, contains three stories, each relating to "the impossible". Jim Breuer, auspiciously featuring in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time, is known for his four-year run on Saturday Night Live and starring role in the cult classic movie Half Baked alongside Dave Chappelle. Expect superstardom. Musical comedy gets a significant run throughout the festival with the launch of The Riot House, where comedy stars are flung together on stage, and Alzheimer's the Musical. Sold out shows up north promise to make this an authentic Edinburgh Experience. And don't miss Hot Dub Time Machine if you're at all inclined to attend the world's first time-travelling dance party. If it's all a little too overwhelming, there is always the comforting pad thai of the comedy world, with the show that kicks it all off — Cracker Night. The ultimate tried-and-true event of the festival's finest and brightest has become much loved, much anticipated and surely not to be missed. A vast improvement on Australia's Got Talent and an excess of eggs. Image: Smart Casual.
After an absence of more than a year, the Museum of Contemporary Art is rebuilt, refit and ready to bring you more art than ever before. Its innards have been expanded, a white, lego-like addition fused to its northern edge and a cafe upstairs now offers you a view with your mid-art breaks. For its Opening Weekend, the MCA lights itself up to take its first contingent of new guests, with talks, art and events to keep you busy for four full days of artistic exploration. As well as finally being able to exhibit a permanent collection, the Museum's first big show, Marking Time, brings together eleven local and overseas artists to meditate on the passing moments. Works include Katie Paterson and Gulumbu Yunupingu's cosmic confetti and Jim Campbell's nightime occupation of the Museum's new front lawn. Not to mention the parallel exhibition of Christian Marclay's the Clock and Celestial Radio's daytime dalliance out front of the MCA. The weekend will also be marked by a series of lectures, tours and performances. Throughout the weekend, speed debating gives you the chance to test, air and push your own opinion about contemporary art. (Topic suggestions taken via this Twitter tag.) Indigenous dance performers perform across the weekend, a series of free artist talks, live VJ-ed art on Saturday and Sunday, digital art to play with, more than one discussion by artist on art, space and time ($15/10) and tours led by teenage guides, who will show you what they reckon makes them tick best after the refit. But with the scale of the program and with most events repeating throughout the MCA's vision of a four day weekend, it's a good time to drop in anytime and see what's on offer.
Fancy yourself a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to entertaining an out-of-towner in Sydney? Sure, you may be able to pinpoint the hottest speakeasies and restaurant hole-in-the-walls but we guarantee, you’ve got nothing on the bank of knowledge the team over at the Dictionary Of Sydney can boast. A City Of Sydney initiative, the Dictionary is a database of historical facts about our city and its attractions, created by, basically, a bunch of history geeks who get their kicks via rifling through ancient archives. They’re thorough and they’ve found the dirt on everything from when exactly Sydney’s first lesbians made their voices heard, to the city’s complicated infrastructure and far more randomly, when we first began using ice (the frozen water, people). The good news for us is they’re dying to spill about their findings. Being staged inside the Reading Room of Customs House’s fabulously stocked three-level library, Sydney Secrets invites Sydneysiders to meet with the researchers behind the dictionary as they discuss popular urban myths and debunk the falsities. Furthermore, the team has enlisted some live music and refreshments to help keep the crowds happy. The fun kicks off at 7.30pm while the talks commence at 8pm.
At the heart of any great gig is the feeling that you're "in the moment". Generally this is not a feeling that can be replicated by sitting in front of a screen watching an event that has already transpired, but Don't Think is not your average music video. Shot in 2011 at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, where British electronica legends The Chemical Brothers played a headline set in front of 50,000 fans, Don't Think aims to capture the experience in an unconventional manner. Here that means some clowns, some exploding teapots, some dancers in bolt hats and a frenetic barrage of sound, film and light, all caught on 21 cameras by the band's long-time collaborator Adam Smith. Replicating the delirium of a live gig through film actually makes perfect sense for these Superstar DJs, famous for their audiovisual shows and for pioneering a style of music (later termed "big beat") that avoided losing energy as it moved from the dance floor to the radio. The Chemical Brothers unique fusion of dance, rock and rap fosters not so much collections of songs but transformative journeys, uniting a multifarious legion of fans bearing anything from Ecstasy pills to blinged out knuckle dusters. Join them on Wednesday for an exclusive digital screening, plus the rare chance to chat with Smith. https://youtube.com/watch?v=21UItm9UCr0
“Lecture” must be one of dullest words ever. It’s worse than words like “turgid” or “ullage”, which, though they also sound like giant pendulums moving in slow motion, don’t make you think of falling asleep on your desk at uni or getting reprimanded for drawing Crayola dinosaurs on your bedroom walls. The word “performance lecture”, however, sounds very interesting indeed. In 2012, Serial Space will present a rolling series of these unique orations to explore the relationship between the structure and the guts of a lecture, how the performer assumes authority and what the audience takes away from it. First off the bat will be Nick Key’s Becoming Otherwise Occupied, going down in Martin Place where him and his mates were occupied by a bottle of whisky only a few months earlier. Art collective Soda Jerk's The Carousel is next in line, with other topics ranging from capitalism and the ghosts of cinema to giant earthworms, Facebook robots and the Garden of Eden. Keep a close eye on the line-up, because if you miss one due to a hangover, they won’t be posted online for you to download later and deface with highlighters. Image by Max Braun.
The Shins have announced an Australian tour in July 2012. The Portland-based band will be performing at Splendour In the Grass, plus they’ll be headlining a gig at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on July 25. Currently touring the US to celebrate the release of their fourth album Port of Morrow, The Shins will be supported by special guests Husky when they play at the Hordern and their gig in Melbourne on July 23. Tickets go on sale at 11am on Monday, April 30.
What’s the best way to avoid the end-of-the-weekend blues? Have a few drinks and (in your best Mafioso voice) fahgettaboudit! On Sunday, April 22, some of Australia's best winemakers are hosting a chilled afternoon of wine-tasting, food and live music at Paddington's coolest warehouse space, Global Gallery. Drawing on the spirit, passion and taste of Italy, producers such as Brown Brothers, De Bortoli and Tintilla Estate will be sharing their finest Aussie-made, Italian-inspired wines. Your ticket includes entry to the event, all wine samples (from a Riedel glass no less), live Italian music and an array of Italian treats, including olives, tapenades and yummy bread and oil, essential for soaking up all of the wine you'll be knocking back. Buy tickets here.
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has evolved into a remarkable cultural institution since its beginnings as an anti-discrimination protest (and commemoration of the Stonewall riots) over three decades ago. This year’s theme — ‘Infinite Love’ — as well as seeming to recall the spirit of the 60s counter-culture, signifies (together with its new logo) a future-vision in which the parameters of love-definitions are enlarged, or are made infinitely reinterpretable. An ever-burgeoning program of exciting happenings — this year packing-in over 60 events(!), over a huge three-week calendar — will, from 12 February to 4 March, see spectators and participants traversing all ends of the Harbour City. Whether one wishes to barrack for their pick of the racing drag queens at the Bondi Beach Drag Races, to cool-off at The Flinders and Beresford hotels for The Laneway post-party, or to engage with some Queer Thinking at The Seymour Centre, there’s certainly ample to see and do. The festival’s climax, of course, remains the pride-parade: an extravagant procession of more than 9000 exotically costumed performers, dancers, and political expressionists, who will float their way down Oxford and Flinders Streets on Saturday 3 March from 7:45pm. And after years of buzz and speculation, we should be so lucky to hear that the pop princess herself — Kylie Minogue — will be returning to the Mardi Gras this year, to perform atop the biggest float in the parade’s history. With simply so much on, this year the Mardi Gras promises to be the biggest, the best, and the most fabulous yet.
In 1768, before swinging past Botany Bay, Captain Cook stopped in Tahiti to watch a small black dot roll across the face of the sun. This was the Transit of Venus, when our neighbour planet passes between us and the Sun. With a combination of maths, timing and observation the scientists on board were part of a worldwide effort to measure the distance between planets via a solar shadow play that pops up roughly twice a century. They come in pairs, and the sequel to 2004's is on this Wednesday, with our next scheduled service due in 2117. Viewing-wise, the University of NSW’s outreach program looks to be a stellar bet, and Sydney University is putting on a day-long festival as well, culminating in the inevitable yet welcome arrival of Dr Karl. If rain delays play, the nearby Tin Sheds Gallery is running an exhibition on the era of radical change in exploration, colonialism and science set in motion by Cook’s transit. And if you join in from elsewhere, the Sydney Observatory has a great guide to help you watch and keep your eyes at the same time, as does ABC Science. (Who knew sunglasses weren’t enough?) Stuck at work? You can follow online via NASA, too. The Transit runs approximately 8am-3pm. Sydney Uni events will take place on the front lawns from 10 to 3. UNSW ping pongs between the Physics Lawn and Physics Theatre from 8 to 3. Please don’t look directly at the sun (or use unfiltered magnification): your eyes are your best feature. Image by Jan Herold used under a share-alike license.
Anton Chekhov is renowned for his four classic plays and his stream-of-consciousness writing technique, which detached itself from traditional literary story structures. He believed that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them, and did not apologise for the difficulties posed for readers in his works. This progressive disregard for the obvious is also evident in Mary Bing's adaptation of his 1891 novella The Duel. Directed by Dover Kosahvili, the film paints Chekhov's words beautifully onto the big screen. The plot pivots around two lovers and is simple enough. With laconic charm, the film tells a tale of desire, adultery, betrayal, and ultimately, love. Laevsky (Andrew Scott), an aristocratic civil servant, lives with his mistress Nadya (Fiona Glascott), having seduced her from her husband. A letter arrives informing Laevsky of Nadya's husband's demise and unfurling into a series of life-changing decisions for him to rapidly make: whether to tell Nadya of the letter, make an honest woman of her by marrying her and starting a family, or keep drinking and playing cards, hoping adult responsibilities dissolve conveniently into the night like Nadya's multiple lovers, who keep popping up. Laevsky is driven mad by her and is wracked with guilt not just for his actions but his inability to commit to anything resembling the lives of those around him. The film unfolds slowly in fragments, whose nature might capture some viewers' curiosity but might jolt others with its uncomfortable and alienating rhythms. Moments full of angst and action pepper the story. One such sequence is the film's crescendo, the duel, providing an outcome that is open to interpretation and coming back to Chekhov's desire to ask questions and leave them unanswered. The cinematography (by Paul Sarossy) is stunning, with location shots in Croatia. Sarossy's efforts give the film the visual feel of an endless ream of postcards. The Duel is a gorgeous film with strong, committed performances from Scott, Glascott, Tobias Menzies, and Niall Buggy. Chekhov admirers should warm to it particularly; however, it should also procure wider audience appeal. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Op2Mewueijc
To celebrate the release of their debut album Outlands, indie-pop quintet Deep Sea Arcade are hitting the road for an outlandish national tour. With an inviting "listen to me" sound Outlands, which was released in March and awarded album of the week by The Brag, is a dream of a record, with nightmarish undertones of the slightly sinister, coupled with a retro feel and jam-packed instrumentals. Having already supported Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Children Collide and Kaiser Chiefs the band will kick off the tour June 1st with stops in Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Byron Bay. The band will roll into Sydney's The Standard June 2nd to showcase the album's seminal tracks like the last single Girls, All The Kids, Lonely In Your Arms and The Devil Won't Take You. https://youtube.com/watch?v=dY6CWGGYO9I
The Griffin Theatre Company are all about championing new writing. Classics as diverse as Lantana, The Boys, and Heartbreak High were all incubated under its roof, and its current generation of premiere works, such as Silent Disco, are similarly destined to become part of the Australian lit canon. From Tuesday, June 12, to Saturday, June 16, Griffin Theatre will be putting extra emphasis on this part of their ambit with the Festival of New Writing, where you can catch forums, the announcement of the 2012 Griffin Award winner, and a night of sprawling, newly devised works that will forever change how you see the Cross. Tuesday, June 12: With nerves and excitement, the 2012 Griffin Award winner will be announced. On offer is the $10,000 prize for an outstanding new Australian play. Wednesday, June 13: Following on from last year's very popular Stables takeover The Heartbreak Hotel, this year's Studio presents the site-specific, immersive work Lovely Ugly, traversing three of the Cross's iconic buildings, the SBW Stables Theatre, Altamont Hotel, and Kings Cross Hotel. Thursday, June 14: Forum day! This is the day to find out all about advertisements, copyright and collaboration, financial planning, and general legal issues that intersect with the arts. Friday, June 15: Some of the theatre scene's finest writers — Andrew Bovell, Lally Katz, Tommy Murphy, and Vanessa Bates — will lead discussion on the topic of 'Where are we as playwrights in 2012?'. Saturday, June 16: Rounding off the week is the 24-Hour Play Project, testing the talents of the 2012 NIDA directing and playwriting students and actors.
A monthly literary event co-curated by Age writers and renaissance women Michaela McGuire and Marieke Hardy with all proceeds going to Edgar's Mission, Women of Letters has proven to be wildly popular in its home town of Melbourne as well as on its occasional dispatches to Sydney. Since its inception two years ago, every event has sold out, and it's no wonder. Blending the lost art of letter-writing with public entertainment in a relaxed and friendly environment, Women of Letters boasts monthly line-ups of strong and intelligent women reading their letters to a particular theme, previously including letters to 'The Night I’d Rather Forget', 'My First Pin-Up', 'My Nemesis' and 'The Song I Wish I'd Written' (the Splendour theme, which included men on the panel for the first and only time.). Among the wine, speakers and DJs, audience members are encouraged to participate, penning their own aerogrammes using the stationery provided. This instalment, Sydney's third, features journalist, writer and media personality Tracey Spicer; presenter of ABC's 7:30 Leigh Sales; congenial book lover Jennifer Byrne; actor and television host Charlotte Dawson; political commentator Annabel Crabb; ABC News 24 journalist and sports reporter Lucy Carter; and author, poet, satirist and social commentator Anita Heiss.
Now in its fourth year, the biggest annual winter festival in the Southern Hemisphere is back: Vivid Sydney is ready to transform the city for 18 days of light, music and ideas. Every night during the festival Vivid LIVE will kindle 50 art sculptures around Walsh Bay, The Rocks and Circular Quay. Aside from the psychedelic projections, there will be free and ticketed events for Vivid LIVE and Vivid Ideas, recently ranked as one of the world’s best ideas festivals by the Guardian. Vivid ideas will showcase over 100 specialist events, including discussions, debate and workshops at the MCA's Vivid Ideas Exchange; a keynote talk from Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy; and a conversation with UK fashion talent Henry Holland. Florence and the Machine and the Ceremonial Orchestra will be opening Vivid LIVE with a sold-out concert, Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will present her "psycho opera" Stop the Virgens and Janelle Monae will be making her Australian debut with the ArchAndroid Orchestra. Photo by Daniel Boud.
After their complete electoral meltdown in the 2008 election, the Republican Party – the Grand Old Party of US Politics – find themselves in a place of deep soul-searching. Should they moderate their ideological positions to appeal to a wider range of voters? Or focus even more on their increasingly conservative base? Will they ever recover from Dubya'? And just what the freak is going on with Sarah Palin?All perfect things to discuss over a beer at Manning Bar with Cliff May, a leading US Republican commentator visiting Sydney to give a Republican's perspective on policy both domestic and foreign, as well as insights on their current situation going into 2010 and 2012. And Sarah Palin. Presented by Tom Tilly from JJJ's Hack and organsied by the United States Studies Centre at Sydney Uni, this event is for you if you're still suffering from election fever or you're a devoted West Wing fan.
Watching educational film series such as Back to the Future and Bill and Ted taught me a valuable lesson about the future - it's shiny, flashy and full of danger.Now the boffins at the Live Futures 2020 festival are trying to spread the rumour that the future is actually a wonderful place (time?) in which to live. This year's theme is "A World of Convergences", and its aims are to highlight the tomorrow-building potential generated through interdisciplinary collaboration. The result is a schedule that threatens to tempt everyone in your tribe: presentations from noted futurists, documentary screenings and interactive artworks are on offer for the princely sum of your attention span. Definitely try to get involved in this one, as it's not often that you can tell people you've spent the day acting like a gene, or that you led your own impromptu unconference presentation.Check out 2009's Live Futures 2020 festival and take part in building a better world...for Biff Tanner.
Biblical mythology, idyllic landscapes, wild animals, political caricatures, sensuality and hardcore pornography all come together in this collection of monochromatic lithography prints, derived predominantly from the AGNSW's collection. Linked by the medium of printmaking, as a whole what they show is the diversity of art and ideas in the Romantic age, an era which is too often simplified as having a coherent doctrine. Comprising mostly English and French prints from the late 18th century through to the mid 19th century (by which time lithography became superseded by etching), highlights include a series of William Blake's deft and idiosyncratic reworkings of Old Testament passages and Eugène Delacroixâ's careful studies of lions and tigers. And yes, there is a touch of xxx, just look out for the work with all the people standing around it. Image: Eugène Delacroix, Royal Tiger, 1929.
Emily Floyd prefers to keep things real. In fact, inauthentic gestures are so bothersome to her that she’s created three installations, entitled Garden, Our Community Garden, Alternative School and Farmers Market, to represent genuine solutions to the realistic possibilities of food shortage, catastrophic climate change and political despotism. Collectively, Floyd’s installations seek to combat these threats by incorporating manifold types of information. URL codes are inscribed on the artworks alongside naturally occurring patterns. Sculptures take on comfortingly familiar shapes, such as the giant double helix Garden Sculpture, while others fail to ascribe to any such obvious signifier. Floyd’s work is between an antithesis and an answer to modern Australia, in that The Fertile Void holds all the answers while sincerely knowing none of them.Photo courtesy of Emily Floyd & Anna Schwartz Gallery
Fringes are easy to identify, mainly because by definition a fringe forms the outer edge of a discernable whole (or, in other cases, it’s the bit of hair just above your eyes). Verges are a lot more exciting in comparison, because they promise that something greater is on its way, something unseen but sure to dazzle in its nascence.So the University of Sydney’s Union is promising a lot with its chosen title and, judging from previous incarnations and a peek at this year’s line-up, The '09 Verge festival will certainly deliver a pyro’s stash of explosive cheer.It all goes bang on August 28th, with a massive Festival Opening night that combines indie electro outfit Telefonica, the Purple Sneaker DJs and the launch of SeeSee Miscellany Magazine – a creative writing periodical that is flare-worthy in its own right.Also, a favourite festival piece returns this year with the Night Markets on September 4th, giving everyone an opportunity to navigate the fairy realm’s equivalent of Westfield.As part of VergeTalks, On Blue King Brown’s Natalie Pa’apa’a, The Herd’s Tim Levinson, Rolling Stone’s Dan Lander and musicologist Dr Cecilia Sun will get together to talk about the role of music in revolution on September 9.However, the heart of a good Verge festival is its Tent, which this year kaleidoscopes from OH&S-defying electric wunderkinds Dorkbot, through to Western Chinese rockers Askar Grey Wolf, and blossoming out as a blissful, chai-swilling gypsy music love nest. In fact, there’s so much cascading out of that piece of canvas that I’m not even sure if I’ve linked the correct adjectives and nouns. Ah well, it’ll make for a delightful surprise on the night.Photo by Amelia Schmidt
A night at the theatre does not necessarily end after the third curtain call, and nor should it in some cases. Version 1.0 is a Sydney-based company that recognises the potential power in theatre as a tool of community awareness and transformation. Furthermore, they understand that to properly affect you must show and not tell – for the preacher is always alone in his or her pulpit.This kind of ruckus is Version 1.0’s new offering, an exploration of violence in our homes and in the footy codes that, for many Australians, are vital to our cultural identity. When the politics of power and control are so prevalent in domestic life, what are the consequences of having sex-scandal sports stars as our most readily available role models? Are we marked by the sins of the football?We have 5 double passes to give away for the preview this Thursday night, thanks to Performance Space! Just email your details to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with 'This Kind of Ruckus' in the subject line.
The Oxford Art Factory will be celebrating their second birthday this month in a fun-filled extravaganza of music and general partying on down with your pants down. The venue is looking back at its year of spectacular entertainment, which has included hundreds of amazing musicians, artists and performers every night of the week. The night for your diaries is Friday August 21, when you will not only get the opportunity to see such Aussie acts as Sticky Fingers, Leader Cheetah, Fashion Launches Rocket Launches, The Protectors and DJs Quincy, Exercise Mike, Graz, Harry Cotton, Lewis B and Ironman, BUT you will also see all of this for exactly ZERO dollars. Gratis, nada, zilch. So there’s absolutely no excuse for you to forget OAF's birthday.
This one man show might be about a bee sting, a childhood, a relationship with a woman - oh no, that's right, it's about nothing. But it does tell you that up front in the title, so you should be prepared for it. Not so much stream-of-consciousness as random puddles of it, Brooklyn playwriter Will Eno's script is erratic but deadpan, placing the audience in a state of awkward self-awareness and uncertainty for its whole 63 minutes. The rambling monologue is delivered with uneasy severity by Luke Mullins who displays a knack for comic timing that he hasn't been able to exploit in his other recent productions (The War of the Roses, The Duel). The attempts at clever self-reflexivity fall on the shallow side, but this is an intriguing hour of theatre from director Sam Strong, providing an uncomfortable window onto one man's bittered psyche. As Mr Pain says at one point "it might be beautiful, if you like that sort of thing." https://youtube.com/watch?v=l436LcnXnpU
A quaint garden scene in cross-stitch with something that is not quite right. It’s one third of Megan Yeo’s series, Midsomer Murders (Tea Cosie Terror), which leaves no question as to whether this craft is art. Also in this exhibition is Linden Braye’s Rat and little lost glove … are they victims of some crime of passion involving sock puppets Sooty and Sweep? Funkadelic … a jilted prom queen’s revenge in acrylic on canvas? Jade Pegler’s The Decedents … possible love children of diva Grace Jones and that carnivorous plant from Little Shop of Horrors? Curator and artist Kath Fries (whose own work Ariadne’s Thread creeps unassumingly across the gallery ceiling), envisaged “a conceptual thread†running between the artists in Le Fil, and you’ll discover one of the things that joins them is their turning away from the perceived boundaries of the needle-and-thread medium.Image: Megan Yeo Midsomer Murders (Tea Cosie Terror 1). Cross stitch on printed fabric. Courtesy the artist.
Travel to the empty part of the map marked, "There be monsters here" and you might find some of the “strange and wonderful life and adventures†artist Alli Sebastian Wolf has injected. Obsessed with C-grade sci-fis, cartoons and scrapheap theatre, Alli’s approach is definitely on the side of cultural renegade, citing, “Drunk teenagers stealing the expensive booze from their folks’ liquor cabinet†as her inspirational modus operandi, as well as, somewhat startlingly, likening herself to a butcher who can hack up a cow and make good use of the bits. What she has certainly made use of is lots of tin-foil, cardboard and objects with a leaning for telepathy, “A lampshade absolutely insisting it’s a time warp or the packing box that has to be a castle.†This is a world of pure play but Alli is careful to make clear that, “Poetry and critique of the world can sneak under the radar like that.†Groucho Marx’s nipples are in evidence, alongside references to Quixote and the Bayeux Tapestry in a 15m frieze that visually represents all the landscapes in Alli’s head – a love song to fantasy.
The deal with sharehouses is that those sharing don’t always agree on their vision of the ideal home. As a result, most houses come out looking a little flustered, if not downright chaotic. The solution? One new sofa, clean and fresh from IKEA. Few housemates will argue with new, comfortable furniture and, thanks to the Home Project, you get to stamp your style all over the loungeroom.The concept of the project is simple: take a classic, affordable IKEA couch and ask Australian artists to work their magic with it. Highlights include Del Kathryn Barton and Romance Was Born’s iconic imagery, Akira Igosawa’s futuristic visions and the guerilla gardening skills of Mickie Quick. Gosia Wlodarczak will also add a live element with one of her ‘drawing performances’ to open the event.Head to Carriageworks to check out what’s on offer, then bid online at Grays. Bonus charity points are also awarded to those making a savvy purchase, with all profits going straight to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.
Sarah Blasko’s live shows have proven to be precious gems, as she successfully offers unique and heartfelt folk pop songs combined with energetic theatricality.In October Blasko will perform at the Enmore Theatre where, with help from her touring band, she will introduce audiences to material from her newest album; and add new textures such as string instruments and percussion to augment her previous work.On her third album, As Day Follows Night, the songs are more mature-sounding and are the perfect slice of pop introspection. Recorded in Sweden with producer Björn Yttling (Peter, Björn & John) the sessions resulted in a warm sounding collection of angelic songs.Special guest support will be Swedish singer-songwriter El Perro del Mar on what will be her first tour of Australia. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ADm41Aw3LXo
Marionettes awaken powerful emotions in people. Many pale-faced adults will mumble about childhood fears, of puppets grinning soulessly at the prospect of dragging screaming kids under the bed. But there's more to life than bed-wetting terror, and Canadian puppetmaster, Ronnie Burkett, uses his craft to bring both heartache and joy into the land of wood and string.Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy, follows the eponymous hero, a puppeteer, as he plunges through an existential crisis and into the ghostly aid of Sid Diamond, his old teacher. Drawing at times from Burkett's own life, this sweet tale is a marionette epic filled with characters both bizarre and memorable. The quality of Burkett's mastery is such that you'll often forget that it's only his hands and chameleonic voice breathing life into Billy Twinkle's universe.Photo by Trudie Lee
Ok, so there are lots of people in the band, they are from Townsville (so hot right now no pun intended), people say they are Christians, they were featured on JJJ unearthed, they are signed to Spunk (the eponymous Aus Indie label who put out records by Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Holly Throsby etc). Those are some details. The Middle East's music is drop dead beautiful, with Jordan Ireland's vocals (akin to Belle And Sebastian, or Sufjan) over lovely instrumentation that can go from whimperingly picked guitar to all-out sing along with crashing cymbals and horns in just one song.Their debut EP Recordings Of The Middle East was originally self released a couple of years ago but is now being reissued by Spunk who are keeping details hazy. This ungoogleable band developed a fair amount of hype without even a live show, but have since notched up a few on their belts to much acclaim, including a spot at this year's Splendour. Luckily for those who haven't seen them they have announced their debut headline tour down the coast and are stopping in at Manning Bar. Join in with the kids (the show is all ages), and get swept away. It should be a very nice evening of music. Supporting are Dragging Pianos (also from Townsville) and Sydney's Jonathan Boulet. https://youtube.com/watch?v=EjB2hbMYIXo
If you imagine combining that dust storm with bass amps, amphetamines, booze, and loud guitars, all running off a generator in the desert, then you might be able to picture the beginnings of Nick Oliveri’s musical path with Kyuss, in Palm Desert, California. Oliveri, and then Kyuss guitarist Joshua Homme went on to become the key members of Queens Of The Stone Age, sharing vocal and song writing duties on the bands albums Rated R and Songs For The Deaf. With his punk influences, the hideously-goatied Olivieri spat out some of the more abrasive yet memorable Queens songs- “Cocaine, nicotine, valium, vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol wwwaaaaahhh! (lengthy scream)â€, on Feel Good Hit Of The Summer. After the often volatile and inebriated Oliveri was fired from Queens (he was once arrested for performing naked in Brazil) he formed his own band Mondo Generator, playing a more intense brand of punk/metal. He has moonlighted and collaborated on a plethora of projects including the Mark Lanegan band, Brant Bjork and The Bros and seminal scum-punk band The Dwarves, which bring him to Australia. He continues his moonlighting ways by playing a few solo shows whilst here, and he'll be showing us his acoustic side with songs from his two truly solo albums Demolition Day and Death Acoustic at The Hopetoun October 10th.Nick Oliveri from Mondo Generator from Music Feeds on Vimeo.
Once again the City of Sydney is transforming, well, the city of Sydney, with its public art program Art&About. While there are many pretty things lining the more conspicuous promenades, it’s down the laneways where the – dare I say it? – more interesting things are happening.Now in the second year of its most recent incarnation, the 2009 Laneways: By George! program is set to stimulate a rethink of what, in this fun-crushing age of public liability, we can do with public space in this city.For four months you can visit a 7 metre bar that responds to visiting crowds with the force of virtual weather, get lost in an Infinity Forest (think Yayoi Kusama but outside with trees), or maybe just unwind in a planter box.Neeson Murcott Architects, Chalk Horse and Freehills, gave me a little insight into the impetus behind their installation in Tankstream Way, PS: Potential Spaces:"We can and should make the streets whatever they have the potential to be," they said. "The laneway does not have to be a dark and lifeless passageway and we hope this project will encourage people to use and enjoy the spaces of their city more - to see the potential of the public realm rather than to shy away from it."While their project has some serious undertones, it promises to enliven the laneway in a slightly less than serious way. Go play.
Crave: the festival's festival. An event created on behalf of the NSW government to draw dollars, jobs and foreign folk to our soil, Crave is a celebration of the artistic, culinary and aesthetic offerings of our dear resplendent Sydney - basically an excuse to be the big fat show-offs that we are. It’s the technicoloured umbrella under which a buffet of joyous events will occur throughout October, including the Sydney International Food Festival, Art & About and the Darling Harbour Fiesta. ‘31 days of food, out-door art and fun’ they say, and you don’t even have to pay for them all. Free events include Breakfast on the bridge where you and 6,000 other cheery early morning revelers will be given the opportunity to down your hash browns atop a national icon. Beat that Rio and your peacock-feathered Carnaval.
Before China flung open its imposing red doors to an international market, it was very much the quiet kid in the corner with super strict parents who didn’t talk to anyone for fear of inviting a wedgie. This was the backdrop for the early years of young Li Cunxin's (Chi Cao) life in Mao’s Last Dancer, adapted for the screen by Aussie director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) and writer Jan Sardi. At the tender age of 11, Li was plucked from his town and family in rural China by Madame Mao’s cultural delegates and sent to study ballet in Beijing. Years of rigorous self-discipline and draconian tutelage bestowed on Li the goods required to represent China in a 3-month cultural exchange at the Houston ballet in Texas. In a series of flashbacks and forwards, we see Li’s baby steps into the USA’s capitalist landscape (disco, Pepsi and chicks) starkly contrasted with his earlier life in Communist China. Buoyed by the accolades that accompany his stunning performances (and, thanks to choreographer Graeme Murphy, they really are stunning), and the flush of budding romance, the impending return to his homeland becomes decreasingly appealing. Li opts for a shotgun marriage to his new sweetheart instead, providing him with grounds for defecting. What happens next is a predictable combative pas-de-deux with a pretty peeved bunch of Chinese officials and Li's new American friends. If you liked the book, can stomach a bit of cliché and a script that occasionally teeters on template Hollywood schmaltz, Mao’s Last Dancer is worth it for the impressive cinematography and technically brilliant dance sequences smattered with some genuinely stirring emotional moments. https://youtube.com/watch?v=8ufBNOkTvdQ
So this week it has all been about redheads. The Devoted Few, a great news piece I saw on BBC about 3,000 red heads getting together in Breda, Netherlands, and now La Roux, whose name translates from the French as “The Redâ€. I am here to tell you that Jackson, with her partner in synth crime Ben Laingmade, are here playing the Parklife tour and are stopping in up the road at The Enmore Theatre.The London duo are still pretty fresh, having released their first album last year after briefly toying with the idea of writing acoustic music. They are far from fledgling though; their singles hitting the top ten in the UK and their heads being all over the UK press. Not Your Toy is their latest single and is a good example of their slick synth-driven pop, with the very memorable vocals of 20-year-old Jackson over the top of dinkey 80’s derived electronic pop. Their live show is much hyped including praise from NME, which described the singers performance as holding “Gobsmacking intensityâ€. They have been all over the globe lately drumming up hype and playing festivals and shows, including Lollapalooza, a spot on the massive US TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live, a support tour with the geezer princess Lilly Allen and they even teamed up with Franz Ferdinand to cover Blondie’s Call Me at a NME festival.https://youtube.com/watch?v=9lVaWYkKOdY
News has started to filter through the music industry rumor mills that legendary indie rock band Pavement are reforming for a tour next year and will be coming to Australia. For those who saw the band in the 90s this news might not be so exciting, but for those of us too young to experience the live show first time around, this is probably the best news we’ve ever heard! We needn’t wait until next year though. Pavement front man and Silver Jews member Stephen Malkmus is touring Australia next week accompanied by his band The Jicks which includes former Sleater-Kinney member and (my all time personal hero) Janet Weiss on drums. These legends of the indie world are performing at The Metro supported by some of the best new Sydney acts, Bridezilla and Songs. You’d be stupid not to go.
