Juicy juicy green grass

Tonight I finally fulfilled my childhood wish of seeing Peter Combe in concert.

He’s been doing some shows this year aimed at people in their early 20s who grew up with his music as kids, and they’ve been very popular, with most selling out (and me missing all until now). This show, being so close to Christmas, obviously included some of Christmas hits. Although I’m usually quite negative about Christmas songs, I’ve concluded that his aren’t so bad! Or perhaps it’s the memories associated with them from when Christmas was still fun.

The setlist also included most of his hits – Juicy Juicy Green Grass, Toffee Apple and Newspaper Mamma, as well as many more. The crowd sung along loud and proud to all of them. Of course, I’m too dignified for that, so I sat at one of the conveniently placed tables at the side and tapped my foot in time. Being at the Corner Hotel, I was shocked to see that they had set up some small tables and chairs to one side – although quite impressed. Although the venue was fairly full (not quite sold out), people sitting were still left with a decent view of the stage.

The band were mostly new, apart from Phil Cunneen, who I think is the keyboardist from the video I used to watch when I was little (from the late 80s). Two of three backup singers were Combes, and one, according to Google, is his daughter. Some of the band were from Adelaide, and everyone was fantastic. The songs were all done just as I remember them (although with Christmas edges in the case of a few). It all came together very well.

The support act was the comedian/musician The Bedroom Philosopher, who apparently enjoys making fun of Melbourne stereotypes. Of course, that’s easily done, but he does it in an entertaining and musical way. He’s currently doing a residency at the Toff in Town, and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for him at next years comedy festival.

Usually between acts there is some background music playing, which nobody pays too much attention to. This time however, they played old TV show themes – including The Smurfs, Gilligan’s Island and The Addam’s Family. This kept the crowd entertained as a group near me choreographed dances to match each one. It was a pleasant change to the usual background music, and matched the crowd perfectly.

Bodyjar and Beer Deluxe.

Friday the 13th was far from unlucky for me. Bodyjar are currently on their farewell tour (not a la John Farnham), and I had tickets to go see them at the Corner. A quick dinner at our regular spot Gigi in the city and Jes and I headed out to the Corner.

Supports weren’t off much interest, but we did see most of 28 Days’ set, as my friend recommended them from the night before. They weren’t too bad, but I was itching to see Bodyjar more than anything; it’s been a fair while since I’ve seen them perform.

The set was, of course, filled with their hits, as well as some of their older tunes. The crowd loved it, even if they were aging slightly. I definitely enjoyed it, especially as I had perched on the smaller stage and could still see.

I ran into a friend from Sydney I don’t see often too and now that I know he’s in town, we’ll arrange to catch up properly.

On Saturday afternoon, a group of us from Flickr met up at Beer Deluxe in Federation Sqaure to discuss an idea for an exhibition we have. The discussions were relatively productive and many ideas have been tossed around, but now we have to get down to work. Just as a side note, if one wants to spend an afternoon drinking, Beer Deluxe can get very pricey.

Beer Deluxe is a place that Jes and I have visited frequently in the past few months. It’s conveniently located near to ACMI, where we find ourselves every few weeks or so, and serves such a wide variety of beers that we are pretty much working our way through the menu now.

The beers aren’t cheap, but as most of them are imported or from microbreweries, one doesn’t expect them to be. There is an extensive range of dark beers, lagers, tap beers and trappist. One of these days I shall use the menu online and complete a list of those that I can remember having and what I thought of them. In the mean time, I’ve definitely tried these two.

As it comes into hotter weather, I often feel like a light larger or wheat beer. The wheat beers I’ve picked recently have mostly been too sweet for my liking though. The Erdinger Dunkel was a tasty, heavier version that I’m used to. On Saturday I also tried the Erdinger Weissenbrau, which is new on tap, and that was fresh and light, without being too sweet.

In the cooler weather, the ales and darker beers are to my taste. Again, I’ve had a bad run picking the sweeter ones, but there have been a few gems in the list. Birra Moretti La Rossa and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord have both turned out to be winners.

There will obviously be many more to come, and I will have to start notes on which I’ve tasted – a bit like with the books last year!

The weekend just past got off to a bad start.

Due to my dizzy spells and ear ache, I had Friday off to go to the Alfred Hospital for a balance test. They extensively test hearing and balance, in the hope of finding the cause. Despite the many warnings, I was optimistic that I’d feel OK and wouldn’t be too put out by it.

The hearing tests were harmless and other than an instrument to check my ear drum going in slightly too far (briefly), there was no problem. Hearing is fine, I still have mild tinnitus and the ear ache but there was nothing showing up which we should be concerned about.

Next came the balance tests. These were the parts I weren’t looking forward to! There were several different parts – all designed to induce dizziness while my eyes were being monitored by a little camera. I believe the basis for this is that in vertigo, the body is trying to right itself, displayed by movement of the eyes trying to find a focus.

The first part of the test involved sitting in a small booth with a light on the wall in front of me. while the light moved to different positions, I was to follow it with my eyes while keeping my head still (strapped to the chair, this was easier that you’d think). The next part involved being in darkness, the chair would move at different speeds while I focused on the light (keeping my eyes open for the recording). This is one of the most unpleasant experiences I have had – being in complete darkness and spun around at unexpected speeds and direction is not my idea of fun. At least with a roller coaster you know you’ll be going forward.

The next part wasn’t too bad and involved sitting on a bed with goggles on (for the camera to attach to) and dropping from sitting to lying at different angles.

The last stage was almost as unpleasant as the dark booth. Similar to when excess wax is syringed from your ears, both hot and cold water are pushed into your ears (separately) and again, eye movements are monitored. Both temperatures were equally uncomfortable in temperature and both induced dizziness (wearing blacked out goggles).

The outcome of all of this was that there was evidence of eye movements while I was dizzy. This means I’m not imagining it! The results will be analysed by the otoneurologist at the Alfred before they’re passed on to my ENT. I’ll be seeing him in a couple of weeks to discuss the results.

After that, I could only have a relaxed afternoon involving TV shows, knitting, editing photos and generally trying to mentally stop the room spinning! Unfortunately I also tried to go to a concert – Daughters of the Rich and Burn The City, but only managed to stay for Daughters of the Rich before I was too dizzy and needed to go to bed.

Saturday morning dawned raining and miserable, which of course was a good time to go shooting in Docklands. Only an hour and an early pint later, we were off to Armadale to see an exhibition of rock and roll pictures – including photos by Pattie Boyd and paintings by Ronnie Wood. A very impressive collection, worth a lot of money and altogether very interesting.

After that we headed down to Prahran to the Borsch, Vodka and Tears bar. There we indulged in some food (the Big Breakfast with Polish spiced sausage!) and some vodka (subtly ginger infused) which was quite delicious!

The Railway Inn was our next port of call, where we settled in for the rest of the evening in their delightful rooftop bar. Many beers and G&Ts later, we disbanded and had food and a relatively early night.

Sunday being Mother’s day, most of my friends were busy, so I had a quiet day for a change. It was a chance to catchup on some photography editing, watching True Blood and knitting a baby cardigan. I also processed the first roll from my new folding Dacora. It was successful (well, judging by my first scans) and I’ll upload some soon.

Biffy Clyro

When I saw a listing for Biffy Clyro in some street press a couple of months ago, I was ecstatic. Although I had quite a few opportunities to see them while I was over in England, I never really got around to it. I first heard of them in early 2003 when they playing as a support to newly discovered InMe, a rock/grunge band from Essex. When I found out who the support was, I thought it was best to look them and up and see if they were any good – and found that they most definitely were. It was a good show and they had such an effect on the audience that you couldn’t help but like them.

Since then I had bought only their first two albums, having not got around to purchasing the others as they were released. Even now that I’ve heard their newer stuff, I still prefer the early albums with the rough edges and lack of extra effects. Thankfully at their show this week, they had a great mixed set list of old and new. The support band was the Skybombers who were nothing special – upbeat rock, that so many Melbourne-ites seem to play now. The venue, Hi-Fi Bar, was relatively empty (last time I was seeing Tiger Army and it was packed out), and even though I was standing toward the back during Biffy, I could see clearly. The sound was spot on (of course, through my ear plugs) and other than Simon’s guitar failing at one point, the show went off without a hitch. Between the support and Biffy, I went out to get some fresh cool air and ran into a friend, who had been invited by an English friend who knew about them. It was unexpected, but when I spoke to him afterward, he sounded like he enjoyed every minute of it despite not knowing much of their stuff. They seem to have that effect on people.

Although the show probably doesn’t go into my top five concerts (not that I could decide on a list), it was a very good one and the atmosphere was special – a smaller crowd who you could tell all quite wanted to be there. Even if a significant proportion of the audience were British rather than local!

Home safe

As was stated in the last post, I came home safely and thankfully had the Friday (13th!) off work too, to recover from my holiday. Most of my day was spent unpacking, organising photos and doing some washing.

In the evening however, I managed to get out the house and went along to Rankins Lane in the city, to see the exhibition of a vague acquaintance from Flickr – Velco. The Absinthe Dream/Conversations” exhibition was simply beautiful and I highly recommend going along (yes in the next two days) if possible! The opening was a nice evening, although I was getting a cold so I stayed away from the absinthe on offer!

The weekend following was quite uneventful. I saw The Watchmen, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite not having read the graphic novels. The soundtrack was especially good, the highlight for me being Bob Dylan at the start!

After that it was struggling back into work after a week and a day off. Of course there was catching up to be done, as well as taking on my full load again, but thankfully I got through it all! I had Wednesday off, which involved seeing the ENT about my dizziness, the physio about my knee and visiting Ted’s in the city to drop off a couple of colour films to be processed.

The ENT is still at odds as to what is causing my dizziness. He suspects that mals de debarquement is not the cause, but having ruled out the other main suspects, he is unsure as to what is the cause. I’m being booked in for a CT scan and a balance test before I go back to see him, so perhaps they will reveal something. I can only hope, as it does seem to be getting worse.

The physio was all fine thankfully. Even if it is not ITBS, the deep tissue massage on the ITB and the knee-cap tape is definitely working, and that’s all that matters! The deep tissue massages aren’t the most pleasant, but it seems to help. The taping I can now do myself, and did so throughout New Zealand and since. I notice it helping particularly when standing or walking – for example I went to a concert on Friday (see below) and I could stand without issue for most of the night. At least something is going well for me!

On the Friday night, I had a few friends over for drinks and nibbles (I whipped up a couple of potato pizzas, delicious) before we went down to the Corner Hotel. Although I didn’t know the bands particularly well – Nancy Vandal and Frenzal Rhomb, – I did enjoy the show, and have had Nancy Vandal in my head since then! I’ll be copying their CDs from a friend so that I can continue to enjoy them. It was a great night, if a little intoxicating, but I was home safe and sound and tucked up by 2am.

Saturday was mainly in recovery mode. I went to the Vegie Bar in Brunswick St for lunch with a friend, which was delicious, and picked up the films from Ted’s. Later in the afternoon I went to see a friend who is in the Royal Melbourne Hospital after a bad fall on her knee which required an operation. Three of four tendons had gone, but she seems to be getting on with things and we all have our fingers crossed for her.

Sunday morning dawned unusually early and brought with it the Camberwell Photographer’s Market – a highlight of the film-shooting-community. This was my first year in attendance, and also the first year the Melbourne Silver Mine had a stall there – for members to sell their gear. I hadn’t planned on making any big purchases, and had set myself a nice low limit of $50 if I did see anything. Thankfully I stayed well underneath that and bought only two things. The first was a film squeegee, to help with water marks when I process my own film. The second was a plastic camera – Cheungyun Minitech 3D-05. It shoots four half-frames at once (35mm) and I can’t wait to see the first roll out of it!

While I was there there was much discussion about medium format gear, as a lot of people were after certain items. It’s started to tempt me into buying one too (peer pressure is hard), although I will have to do some research first obviously. I have several friends who shoot with various makes and models, so I will have to investigate, but it’s something new which does appeal to me, especially now that I can process my own black and white film.

Not that I need any new cameras at the moment though, as last weekend I was also given a plastic panorama camera. Instead of having a high-tech method, it’s a matter of flipping a lever on the back and some plastic shutters lower over the top and bottom of the frame so that the negative isn’t fully exposed. I went out with it on Wednesday and found it far too easy to shoot with, the roll was almost done after a couple of hours. I will hopefully process that this afternoon and get scanning!

This week coming also holds some excitement for me in the form of a Scottish band. I’ll be seeing Biffy Clyro, who I haven’t seen since their first support slot with InMe after their first album all the way back in 2003! They’ve changed quite significantly since then, but still have a distinct sound which I love. I can’t wait! I also plan on trying to get out and shoot with various cameras at lunchtime and after work.

In the mean time, here are some more shots from NZ, both film and digital.

Rumble in Brighton

Wednesday evenings usually hold little excitement for me, but when my housemate called me (yes, we do live together and call each other) and said there might be a spare ticket to see the Stray Cats, I have to admit, I was excited!

I expressed interest but heard nothing until mid-morning Thursday (which was, coincidentally, the day of the show). My other housemate confirmed that we both had tickets and I was free to look forward to it!

I remember missing their show in London at Brixton Academy a few years ago – because of exams or age or both, so having another opportunity to see them was great. I hadn’t bought tickets when they went on sale because I was unsure whether I’d be in Adelaide or New Zealand or elsewhere globetrotting, and had regretted it when the date was approaching and I was just sitting in Melbourne!

The show itself was even better for me as The Living End were supporting. Having already decided I wouldn’t be seeing them on their tour this year as the cost was too high, I could quite easily justify more to see both the Stray Cats and The Living End. So being able to see the boys at least once this year was good, and I still get a hint of the giddiness from when I first saw them, despite having gone off their music for the most part (their newer albums at least). It was good to see them well-received by the crowd too, although a little scary as there appeared to be a boy on springs in the crowd (he just could not stop jumping.) The set list was different to usual, but not in a particularly good way, and although they were definitely enjoying it, I was only mildly impressed, perhaps because tension was rising for the main act.

Just enough to get a breath of fresh air, a drink, a sit down and some merch – we moved back in just as the cheers went up for the three boys we were there to see. We managed to grab a seat right at the back, but of course all the people seated in front of us wanted to stand. A precarious balance on the back of the seat worked out well for the majority of the show which meant my legs haven’t been aching since.

The show was simply amazing. Everybody there was ecstatic, dancing and singing and in great spirits. Sure, everybody was wearing the same style of shirt and had the same hairstyle, but when they launched into it, none of that mattered. The setlist wasn’t too much of a surprise, with all the classics and most of their bigger songs in the mix, and all songs were executed with a mass of energy and enthusiasm.

For the last encore (there were two), Setzer introduced Chris Cheney of The Living End as a special guest and no one was all that surprised – Cheney’s been a huge fan since he was a kid starting out with music. After seeing him on stage with his own band though, there was a huge difference to when he came out to play with his idols – he looked like a little kid! He had a huge smile on his face as he played a solo with his idol before sharing Slim Jim and Setzer’s mikes for ‘I Fought The Law’. It was certainly a good moment to see and certainly something that won’t be forgotten for most people who there. I could help but joke that Scott Owen and Andy Strachan were sitting side of stage pouting at the fact that they weren’t allowed to play with them! It was also funny to note that Cheney kept the guitar strategically placed over his crotch as he left the stage…

The best bit of the night though was realising that the main act was on stage by 9.30pm and would finish before 12am. In fact, I was standing outside about to go home by just after 11pm – fantastic for a weeknight because I could still get a decent night’s sleep! I’m not sure if that’s just how the Forum works or it was the Stray Cats decision, but either way, it certainly worked in my favour.

Stop!

In the name of love.

I just got back from seeing Human Nature with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall, and I have one word – amazing!

After mentioning it to several people at work and them thinking I was joking, I was unsure whether it would be a good night or not – but when I was shown to my seat which had a good view (in the stalls) and at the end of the row, I was very excited.

The orchestra itself had over 70 members on stage, which was spectacular. I’ve not seen a full orchestra perform before and this was beautiful – including their solo of the Bond theme, at the request of the HN boys. The subtleties were clear when seeing them live rather than listening to a classical CD – it is much more impressive for one.

The first half of the show was a few of their older songs from the first three or so albums I think (I can’t remember the setlist, but that seems right), and was beautiful. Having heard some songs on the Symphony album, it was good to compare them to a live version. They also mentioned how they chose to take a certain direction and demonstrated how they could have gone – all with brass instruments (Michael with the largest!) playing a version of the Wallace and Gromit song! I was impressed..

The rest of the first half was covers of the Beatles. A version of She’s Leaving Home and Got to Get You Into My Life, followed by a medley of a few songs. They said they’d played at Hamer Hall before with Sir George Martin and an orchestra, doing only Beatles songs; I’m sad I wasn’t there.

The second half started with an a capella version of People Get Ready before moving into solos from each of them – including Toby doing his MC from Cabaret act through the audience and dancing with a female then male member of the audience. We also found out that ‘the backdoor is always open’! He’s definitely a performer – I wish I had known he was in Cabaret, I would have seen it!

Michael and Andrew did a duet of the Everly Brothers after showing a picture of them at ages six and nine.

The second set consisted mostly of their recent songs – mainly Motown covers – which had the older members of the audience (and me) singing along loud and proud. There was also much more synchronised dancing. As cheesy as it is, it suits their music and they do it well; I like most kinds of dancing and admire it because I’m so unco-ordinated! They were also wearing matching suits by this time.

For their last song, the cover of the Supremes’ classic, they asked us all to stand up and learn the moves for the chorus. As embarassing as it was, nearly everybody was doing it and I was happy to join in, only so I wouldn’t stand out of course.

I’m so happy I finally saw them, after getting their first album ‘Telling Everybody’ in 1997, when I was only six or seven, and importing their albums when I moved to England. Despite my numerous phases of music (rap, metal, punk etc), I’ve always had a weakness for them and I doubt it’ll fade, especially now that I’ve seen how great they are live.

So the beginning of 2009 has been quite busy so far, even if work has been thankfully quiet.

Having taken Friday 2nd off work so I could have a four-day-weekend, I arranged to see someone from the Melbourne Flickr group to hand over some Ilford photo paper which I no longer has use for. Meeting in Borders was not a great idea, as I arrived early enough to look at a lot of books. With some self-control, I didn’t buy anything, had a coffee with Zaeem and went on my way.

I headed down to the NGV as I have been meaning to do for many weeks, to see the Andreas Gursky exhibition. Despite being $15 to see a handful of photos, I was rather impressed. When photos are so big that you can stand directly in front of it and see detail of hundreds of faces (his picture from Pyongyang) and the detail of item in stores (his 99c store, probably his best known shot), you can’t help but feel inadequate. Having to strain your neck to see more detail in a photo as large as that is so unusual, but it’s definitely worth it and has made me want to enlarge my work more.

After that I just relaxed and saw some friends until Sunday 4th. A group of us from Flickr were meeting at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Southbank for a few drinks. It was a warm but relaxing afternoon and I came home earlier than usual so that I could catch up on sleep before going back to work on Monday. The four-day-weekend felt more like a week off by the time I got back at work.

During the week I tried out a small restaurant in Richmond called The Rainbow-Silent-Heart, a small vegan/vegetarian place. The food was cheap, delicious and different to what I usually eat. I had the Bliss Burger and my friend had a peanut satay stir-fry, which was more like a curry. I found a voucher in the Entertainment book for it, so thought it a good a reason as any to try somewhere new.

Thursday night was my chance to see Atmosphere with Brother Ali and Murs. I hadn’t realised that the main set was Atmosphere feat. Brother Ali, and as I didn’t know any of Brother Ali’s work, it was a little alien. Murs’ set was fantastic, and really livened up the crowd. When Slug came out with Brother Ali doing his thing, he couldn’t stop smiling, and they both seemed to really enjoy themselves. Alternating a few songs each, with Ant doing the DJ work all the way through, the show lasted a while but probably felt longer because I had a headache!

At one stage I noticed that some people around me were smoking some joints and was a little surprised that the guys collecting the glasses didn’t really care – they walked past and just smiled at the guys even though they were obviously the ones smoking. It was interesting to see that they cared so little about flouting of laws.

There were some other interesting people there including a girl who was dancing in what she though was a sexy manner, but was so out of time with the beat that she just looked a bit stupid; there was a guy who I think was limping, but could have just been doing the ‘cool’ gaited walk that a lot of hip-hop kids seem to do and some people who looked around 12 years old and had either snuck in with a fake ID or just had a baby face. All in all, a great night with a varied crowd and some new music for me. Very enjoyable night, although I could have done with a little more sleep!

Friday night I was at a friend’s place again, so still lacking on sleep, I went out on Saturday to another Flickr meet. We met a little earlier to take some portraits of each other, with most of us being reluctant models! It was successful though, and then we moved up to Section 8, a small outdoor bar setup in a lane. Thankfully it was a great, sunny day and under the trees and shade, it was a beautiful afternoon. It was a much bigger turnout than usual with some new faces and old faces coming for the first time in a while.

They had some good music on: hip hop, followed by jazz and blues, but it did get loud later on and a bit too much for the mellow mood we had set during the afternoon. It was a brilliant afternoon though, and although not the cheapest, I could easily go back there again soon.

With the rest of the week staying warmer than the last few, I’m excited that summer is finally here.