Review - Sydney Scene - Qstage

February 18th 2010 09:14

Watch and Listen to John Cale's Keynote Online

On February 15 underground rock royalty and founding member of the Velvet Underground, John Cale, cut the red ribbon for Modular and Sydney Festival's Circa 1979: Signal to Noise with a Keynote speech at the Seymour Centre.

Hipsters rubbed shoulders with electronic pioneers in a packed out York Theatre as Cale showed off a few snaps and described working with the likes of Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Happy Mondays, The Stooges and LCD Soundsystem before capping things off with a mind blowing rendition of "Heart Break Hotel."

If you missed the speech or want to listen/watch it again, ABC's Big Ideas are streaming it online.

January 28, 2010 at 10:23am in circa 1979: signal to noise

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Live, Sydney Scene, Adelaide Scene, Melbourne Scene, Brisbane Scene, Perth Scene, Australia National , CD/DVD, News, Qstage

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Chamber Music Festival 2010

February 5th 2010 22:56

Chinese Gardens
Chamber Music Festival 2010

Musica Viva is pleased to support the Chinese Garden Chamber Music Festival

Following on from the success of the first ever Chinese music festival in Australia in February 2009, the 2010 Chinese Garden Chamber Music Festival will be held:

February 4th to 6th in Sydney’s Chinese Garden of Friendship (Download Brochure)

We are proud to announce that 2010 will feature three of China’s masters of the erhu, pipa and guqin, Xing Lu, Tong Ying and Jin Wei. These extraordinary, virtuosic musicians will join prominent Australian artists in performing Chinese and Australian works, both ancient and modern. You will hear some of the world’s best chamber musicians from both countries in the intimate and magical environment of the Chinese Garden including the Orava String Quartet, Chinese Australian Music Ensemble, cellist Patrick Murphy, percussionists Claire Edwards, Kevin Man and Timothy Constable and The Sydney Chinese Music Ensemble.

There will be six concerts over the three days – three ‘yum cha’ concerts, all beginning at 11.30am, and three evening concerts at 7pm each night. Tickets will also include stimulating pre-talks before evening concerts and an excellent Chinese meal. Wine will be available.

Only 147 tickets are available for each concert and bookings can be made through the Musica Viva box office on 1800 688 482

More information about the festival HERE

John Huie
Artistic Director

"John Huie is an Australian musician and arranger that has spent some considerable time in Hong Kong and China researching various world music styles, including film soundtracks for Golden Harvest and also a commemorative piece for the 1997 handover. Now based in Shanghai, he has put together a crack band of local musicians to recreate many of the 1930’s jazz songs that were the soundtrack to the city in its pre-war heyday. “Shanghai Jazz – Musical Seductions From China’s Age of Decadence” is the sublime result."

"After moving to Shanghai in 2002, he spent three years researching and reproducing the authentic songs and musical style of Shanghai in the 1930s. The albums Shanghai Jazz 1 and Shanghai Jazz 2, were released by EMI. Huie then continued to write for small ensembles using a combination of traditional European and Chinese instruments, which resulted in the release of New Shanghai, also with EMI.During this time he wrote a number of film scores including The White Countess by legendary New York based film duo Merchant Ivory." SOUNDPET

Read the review for last years festival by Peter McGill below

Venue: Chinese Gardens, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Dates: 5, 6, 7, & 8th February, 2009

Producers: Chinese Chamber Music Company | Musica Viva | Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

February in Sydney is the perfect time to be sitting in the magical setting of the Chinese Gardens, Darling Harbour, and listening to chamber music. This was the inaugural festival which means that we will be treated to this event, hopefully, for many years to come. The music began just before dusk and on a gorgeous summer evening the Chinese Gardens couldn’t have looked more beautiful.

The proceedings began with a ‘Greeting to Country’ and the Festival was opened by the Governor of NSW Professor Marie Bashir AC. The Artistic Director of the Festival was John Z. Huie who is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium High School and has studied under Carl Vine. He lived for 15 years in Hong Kong, from 1991, studying the art of Chinese Chamber music. He was commissioned by the Hong Kong government to compose a piece, which he called “The Honourable Retreat”, for the handover from British rule back to China on 30th June, 1997. In 2002 he moved to Shanghai to research the complexities of that city's authentic songs of the 1930’s, later composing an album Shanghai Jazz, produced by EMI, and for which a tribute concert was held recently to honour his contributions. He has also written film scores, choral works, and produced, composed, and performed in various music ensembles.

Chinese instrumentalists performing with traditional instruments were a delightful highlight to the festival and the opening piece was Fang Yu on the ‘guqin’ which is one of the worlds oldest instruments.

The Shanghai Chinese Music Ensemble played a traditional Chinese folk song “Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye”, (English translation “Night Along The River”) with other traditional instruments and Lulu Liu played a ‘pipa’ solo called “Ospreys Sporting with Water”. In the second half of evening The Chinese Australian Chamber Ensemble with guest artists Professor Wang Zheng Ting (sheng)and Tony Wheeler (zhong ruan) played a traditional Chinese New Year piece. To round out the evening Australian pianist Michael Kierin Harvey performed “Goldfish” by Debussy and “Mephisto Waltz No.1” by Liszt.

Not all the music on offer was instrumental. We were treated to the pentatonic sounds of ‘pingtan’, a traditional Suzhou (Chinese) Opera, which has harmonies in pentatonic scales that align with the ancient instruments of China. Sung in Chinese and a little foreign to the western ear it was accessible because of its use of the pentatonic scale, quite an experience.

The music in this festival is out of the ordinary and the opportunity to experience the worlds’ pre-eminent practitioners playing instruments thousands of years old in their design is exciting and new to Australia. If you missed the Inaugural Chinese Chamber Music Festival put it in your diary for next year. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Peter McGill.

100

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Live, Sydney Scene, News, Qstage

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REVIEW | Bon Iver | Sydney Festival

January 25th 2009 14:00

Venue: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney

Date: 22nd January, 2009

Sydney Festival 2009

Bon Iver

Bon Iver are a four piece band, Justin Vernon, Mike Noyce, Sean Carey, Matthew McCaughan, who come from North-western Wisconsin, USA. The force behind the group is singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Justin Vernon who has been making heads turn by producing an album, Emma, forever Ago, with very little technology, a few instruments, and realizing an amazingly unique pastiche of sound. The moniker Bon Iver is an Anglicization and purposeful misspelling of the French greeting bon hiver which means good winter - a greeting he came across while watching Northern Exposure*.

These current songs developed out of the turmoil of the break-up of both Vernon’s long-term relationship and his band DeYarmond Edison(1). He stayed in his fathers' cabin, it was winter, and he was recuperating from liver disease. The songs were only meant to be demos to send to record companies to see if they would produce them but they received such an overwhelmingly agreeable response that Vernon decided to put together a band and start performing them. This was no easy task as the main song For Emma, Forever Ago, according to Vernon, needs a chorus of 80 - 500 people; he gets around this by having the audience sing and therefore the song takes on its' own life unique to the vibe of that room.(2)

The sound created by Bon Iver is unique. Vernon’s’ falsetto, which he uses on most songs and is a recent development in his repertoire, brings an angelic quality to the sound and is balanced out by the deeper harmonies of the three other musicians. Together their vocals are reminiscent of the complexities of country rock greats like the Amazing Rhythm Aces, Charlie Daniels Band and the like. Musically there is a mixture of instruments, guitars, organs, two drum kits, and bass guitar but they are not always used in a traditional manner. Quite often the instruments are used to give a percussive dissonant texture and at times the drum kits are played in opposing rhythms building to a powerful, driving, crescendo. As a sound the devises they use are refreshing and their performance is uncomplicated worth seeking out.

Peter McGill

(*) Northern Exposure at Wikipedia
(1) DeYarmond Edison
(2) Pitchfork Interview

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Sydney Scene, Qstage

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Review | All Tomorrows Parties

January 24th 2009 23:56

All Tomorrows Parties

Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour
18th & 19th January, 2009.
Sydney Festival 2009

The Sydney Festival 2009 brought an awesome event to east coast Australia by way of ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES (ATP) which is a development in the staging of music festivals. The name itself comes from the Velvet Underground album and song of the same name which was written by Lou Reed. The song was written in response to Reed’s observations of the hangers on in Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia event tour in 1966 of which The Velvet Underground were taking part. (1)

The first of these events was held at Camber Sands, England in 1999 as an alternative to the larger more conventional events on offer. The main ideas were that it would be held in an intimate venue (usually outdoor) and the headline artists, be they musician or occasionally visual, would curate the festival by inviting their favorite performers to perform. In essence it was to be like an insight into the headlining acts own music collection, per se. Another aspect of the event was that originally, being in an intimate outdoor environment, there was an attempt to blur the personal distinctions between artists, producers, and punters. They would all stay in the same accommodation, (2) and they were to be a sponsorship free event.

The headline act and curators for ATP Australia 2009 were Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Australia’s seminal eclectic punk rock outfit and there choice of cohorts was inspiring.

Though it wasn’t possible to see everything on the bill there was plenty to choose from. A diverse mix including electronica - Spiritualized, visual art – Louis Wain, bluesman – James Blood Ulmer, and heavy soul – Afrirampo to name a few.

For the whole line up you can go to the Sydney Festival 2009 homepage. What I can tell you about are the acts I did get to see.

First up was Hoss, a Melbourne hard-rock outfit that pumped up the volume from the start and delivered an abundantly driven rock set, they were powerful and gusty. The Geyer Zone was an instillation in a tunnel which consisted of minimal lighting and a soundtrack that could barely be heard over the bands outside, so for me that was a bit of a lost experience. Michael Gira comes from New York City and was a founding member of the industrial-rock band Swans. In this incarnation he was without a band and performed solo with guitar and vocals. Don’t be fooled by that description though, he’s solo performance consisted of loud and gritty vocals accompanied by distorted gutsy six string brutality. His emotive delivery was well received. Harmonia are a mesh of ex-members of German bands such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Cluster. As you can guess their set was resplendent with electronica. They were a welcomed separation to the hard rock on offer. Robert Foster of the Go-Betweens provided an entertaining set with some fine memories of the eighties.

The Saints had not been seen together by Australian audiences since 1977. They rejoined to do a gig celebrating Brisbane’s music in 2008. With the original line-up of Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper, and Ivor Hay, joined on bass by Archie Larizza. They played exactly what the crowd had come to hear, playing ‘(I’m) Stranded’ and other well known favourites.

The band we all came to see, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, gave a blistering performance delivering all the songs they are celebrated for including “All Tomorrows Parties” and “The Weeping Song”. They were all in fine form and brought the festival to a satisfying crescendo.

That wasn’t the end of the night though. Some stayed on to catch the latter performances that went on until 1:00 a.m. including The Reels.

It must be said that this was an event that will go down in the memories of the lucky few who got to experience it. The Sydney Festival 2009 not only pulled off this coup d'état in festival composition but the support arrangements were also first class. The venue, who could beat Cockatoo Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour on one of Sydney’s glorious summer days, the food was way out of the ordinary, the beverages were affordable and of high quality, and there wasn’t a line-up of more than 10 people for any of these necessities as well as the amenities and most of the time there was no line-up. I congratulate Sydney Festival 2009 for achieving such a high standard in celebration – it was an excellent event and a huge success!

Peter McGill.

(1) Wiki:

(2) Wiki:

Sydney Festival 2009

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Sydney Scene, Qstage

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Review | POEM OF KUNGFU

October 28th 2008 08:24

EVIDENTLY THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Review | Poem of KungFu - Nine Scrolls

Star City Theatre – Star City Casino, Sydney
Thursday, 23rd October, 2008.

Poem of Kung-Fu is a journey through nine scrolls, Purity; Sutra; Diligence; Intelligence; Listening; Shape; Calmness; Devotion; and Paradise. The director, Liu Zhen, has created an exciting mix of martial arts, dance, and story telling that gives an insight into the touching journey of a young monk from his initiation, through the hardship of a lifestyle which is fraught with peril, to his self-realisation.

Kung-Fu is a generic term for the martial arts of China and is most notably known as Shoalin Kung-Fu. Originally called Ch’uan Fa which means ‘fist way’ it was known as a combat art in various parts of China until it began to develop in the Shoalin temples by monks whose main purpose for being in a monastery was to take refuge from the law. There were five styles of Kung-Fu which evolved in five Shoalin temples located in five provinces. Later it divided into two distinct schools, north and south, which was relevant to the two strongest Chinese cultures, Mandarin in the north, and Cantonese in the south. The style of movements became directly related to the physiology of the practitioners, that being those in the south using low stances and kicks with fast hand techniques because of their shorter stature, and those from the north developed restricted hand movements, due to the nature of their thicker clothing necessary for warmth, and strong leg movements including acrobatics with multiple kicks.

In this production there are twenty seven performing practitioners who will amaze you with their athleticism and precise techniques which have been orchestrated into a dance and movement work of art. There are several main artists leading each segment and two principal performers around which the story revolves, Master Li Brolin, the guiding monk, and Maio Shuaifeng, the apprentice, who at just ten years old accomplishes everything the elder monks execute and more.

Each Scroll is preceded by a potent narration told by actor Tony Barry and expressed in music by pianist Ester Balasch Lozano and vocalist Cherie Valaray. Poem of Kung-Fu is an awe inspiring work, an exciting night at the theatre with astounding physical feats through a poignant journey with humour and insight – a great nights’ entertainment!

Peter McGill

Star City are proud to present for the first time ever in Australia

POEM OF KUNGFU - Nine Scrolls

- a spectacularly original dance theatre piece direct from Beijing that combines Chinese KungFu with Chinese dancing.

This award winning production will take you on an historical and cultural journey featuring 27 performers, including 10 year old Miao Shuaifeng and star of the show Li Bolin, extraordinary physical movements, original dance routines amid a sea of vivid colours.

POEM OF KUNGFU - Nine Scrolls will be seen at Star Theatre for a limited season opening on Thursday 23 October.

POEM OF KUNGFU will be directed by well-known Chinese Body Art Master Liu Zhen who explains:

We have chosen to call this POEM OF KUNGFU Nine Scrolls because poetry is like Kung Fu, it can be abstract and real at the same time. The Nine Scrolls (Purity, Sutra, Diligence, Intelligence, Listening, Shape, Calmness, Devotion, Paradise) are presented like a poem of prose taking the audience on a journey through joy, sadness, anger, euphoria; one moment mystical, full of grace and whimsy, the next powerful and dramatic.

Life's daily rituals, such as the simple act of drinking a bowl of soup are transformed into a magical experience that will have audiences laughing one moment and gasping the next as they witness the masterful choreography and daring exploits of these highly skilled performers.

Venue: STAR THEATRE

Star City, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont

Preview: Wednesday 22 October 2008

Season: Thursday 23 October

Performances: Wednesday to Saturday 8pm; Saturday 2pm; Sunday 2pm & 6pm
Prices: $49.90 to $79.90 plus special Schools price $39.90
$199 Family of four includes full gourmet Buffet

Bookings: 1300 795 267or ticketmaster.com.au
Groups of 8 (02) 8512 9020

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Live, Sydney Scene, Qstage

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REVIEW | Phillip Johnston & the Coolerators

October 9th 2008 01:06

Phillip Johnston and the Coolerators

VENUE: Riverside Theatres

DATE: Sunday 4 October at 7.30pm 2008

Parramatta Riverside Theatres

Phillip Johnston is originally from the U.S.A. and now lives in Australia. He is an accomplished saxophonist as well as being an arranger and composer of jazz and contemporary music; he has also composed for a multitude of genres such as silent film, theatre, and dance and been the force behind the ensembles the Microscopic Septet (whose back catalogue was re-released in 2006 by Cuniform Records), Big Trouble, and The Transparent Quartet. He recently collaborated with Hilary Bell, who wrote lyrics, on the silent film soundtrack Faust by F.W. Mumau, and has taught composition at the Steinhardt School of Music at New York University.

Sam Golding on the tuba adds a dynamic bass note that accentuates the swing elements and balances the timbre of the group. His musical interests include Senegalese Mbalax, Cuban Son, Caribbean Steel Pans, Cabaret, Symphony Orchestras, Classical Brass Trios and Classical Hindustani Bansouri, and Reggae. Other groups he has performed with are Jackie Orszaczky’s Budget Orchestra, Chosani Afrique, Monsieur Camembert, Sydney Conservatorium Big Band, Nadya Golski and the 101 Candles Orkestra, The S-Bend, and the Sydney University Orchestra.

jazz and swing with a splattering of funk
that is all class
Peter McGill

Toby Hall's percussion provides an abundant backbone for the quartet. Highly sort after as a drummer he has worked with the cream of Australian jazz musicians, Don Burrows, Paul Grabowsky, Bernie McGann, Phil Slater, and Vince Jones amongst the mix. He has also been engaged by top international artists such as Charles Mingus, Doug Cameron, and Sheila Jordan. Hall’s ability to play intuitive intricate rhythms and time signatures on the backbeat with distinctive and stylish elegance is an exciting feature of the group. His personality on stage also brought a welcome element of humour to the night’s entertainment.

Alister Spence is well known on the Australian jazz circuit with his group the Alister Spence Trio. He is a pianist and composer of renown and has also worked with Don Burrows and Bernie McGann, as well as a diverse range of Australian music luminaries like Ed Kuepper, Archie Roach, Paul Capsis, and Dale Barlow. He co-led the internationally recognised Clarion Fracture Zone and has contributed richly to the Australian recording industry with many of his contributions winning Australian Jazz Album of the Year.

Phillip Johnston and the Coolerators are consummate musical artists, they present a unique style of jazz performance that is relaxed, smooth, and eloquent with phrasing that bursts forth intricate improvisations in jazz and swing with a splattering of funk that is all class - for the uninitiated and jazz aficionados alike a delight to imbibe.

Peter McGill

Band Website

Band Members
Phillip Johnston: alto, soprano saxophones
Alister Spence: organ
Steve Arie: bass
Toby Hall: drums
The Coolerators is a Sydney-based quartet, led by New York expatriate Phillip Johnston, combining the organ-based “groove jazz” style identified with Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack Macduff & Dr. Lonnie Smith with more contemporary and idiosyncratic influences.

The repertoire features originals and reinvented cover tunes. It features some of Sydney’s best-loved jazz musicians: Alister Spence, organ, Steve Arie, bass, and Toby Hall, drums.

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Live, Sydney Scene, News, Qstage

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REVIEW | Risky Lunar Love

September 22nd 2008 04:19

Luke Milton’s
Risky Lunar Love

Directed by John Sheedy
Reviewed by Peter McGill

RISKY LUNAR LOVE
CarriageWorks’
Bay 20 theatre
limited season.

Risky Lunar Love is written by Luke Milton and made its' first appearance in 2002 as a university project in Perth. The concept is a musical theatre sci-fi extravaganza which involves a sex goddess from outer space who has a whole planet of Venus babes that need seeding. The goddess manipulates two rival earthbound sci-fi writers into being her donors but before she commits to either one she has to be sure that they are up to the task.

The show is risqué, with an 18 rating, funky, retro, sci-fi, and contemporary. While Milton’s script is pure unashamedly 50’s sci-fi B-grade movie the production design by Gypsy Taylor, who has worked on Moulin Rouge, is a blast fusion of 50’s retro kitsch with a neon contemporary vogue. It has twists and turns, astounding characters, and Rabelais-esque debauchery all over the place, all driven by the magical powers of a Tiki.

There is a potent sense of familiarity with the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the storyline as well as the stylized movement and choreography by John O’Connell who has also worked on Rocky Horror and Moulin Rouge.

A highlight of the production is the live original music. Brent Hill wrote the basis of the score then collaborated with Ross Johnston, from Machine Gun Fellatio. Together they worked on seventeen of the eighteen musical numbers. The band and the music are a dynamic powerhouse of auditory sensation. The musical virtuosity carries the action and adds to the funky flavour.

Director John Sheedy has melded these elements and realized a wacky, out-there, sexy, sci-fi romp which is trying hard to push the boundaries of musical theatre. The performers work well as an ensemble.

Risky Lunar Love is an exciting new Australian adult musical.

Peter McGill.

Risky Lunar Love
Writer Luke Milton
Director John Sheedy
Producer Oliver Wenn
Original Music Brent Hill
Musical Director Ross Johnson
Choreographer John O’Connell
Designer Gypsy Taylor
Cast: Eliza Anderson, Don Christopher, Shannon Dooley, Ryan Gibson, Sheridan Harbridge,
David Hynes, Julia Ohannissian, Mark Pound, Emma Palmer, Nick Simpson Deeks, Lauren Rutherford, Melle Stewart, Lucy Taylor, Amy Usherwood, Sophie Webb.

Carriageworks Bay 20 Theatre

From Monday 15 September
15 September- 4 October
Media night Thursday 18 September
Tue - Fri & Sun 8pm, Sat 5pm & 9pm.
Preview Monday 15 September $29.00(Unreserved)
Function Nights 1 & 2- $35 Stalls & $45 Table (Unreserved)
A Reserve $45.00
B Reserve $30.00
Premium Reserve $55.00
Tables including food and wine service
Table $95 per head (min two persons)
Group of 4 $365
Group of 8 $720.00
Menu options available when booking
Bookings: ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 723 038

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Sydney Scene, News, Qstage

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Tamam Shud

July 16th 2008 05:37

Tamam Shud

Goolutionites and the Real People

The words tamam shud are taken from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and they mean: the very end. The band Tamam Shud were gigging around the East coast of Australia in the 1960’s and their music was heavily supported by film maker Paul Witzig who used much of their work in his ground breaking surf movie Evolution and others.

Newly released on CD for the first time Goolutionites and the Real People includes eight bonus tracks including tracks from the surf movie Morning of the Earth and a selection of live recordings from a gig at the Regent Theatre, South Yarra 1971.

The album is fresh and funky in so many ways. The line up over their relatively short life was: Lindsay Bjerre [gtr,vcls] 1967-72, Peter Barron [bs] 1967-72, Dannie Davidson [dr] 1967-70, Larry Duryea (aka Larry Taylor) [congas], Tim Gaze [gtr, vcls] 1970-2, Bobby Gebert [kbds] 1971, Richard Lockwood [sax, flute, clarinet] 1972, Nigel Macara [dr] 1970-72, Kevin Sinnott [dr] 1970, Kevin Stevenson [reeds] 1970, Alex 'Zac' Zytnic [gtr] 1967-70.

The band has obviously been influenced by 60’s musicians Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Doors and the whole San Francisco movement that discovered and popularized LSD, and their cover notes to this brilliant album aren’t afraid of saying so. Just one 76 minute session listening to Goolutionites and the Real People is likely to make you feel like you’re there, off your face and ready to hit the Uni Bar. It’s down right excellent!

Young cynics may hear it as music to destroy the planet by, but that’s not really the case. Australian youngsters in the 60’s and 70’s were just starting to protest against a lot of the darker things becoming obvious, including war, old growth forests, over population, the slaughter of whales and the mining of uranium… there were plenty of issues to protest against and a great willingness to create Australian experiences that were just as real and valid to the individual as the American or UK experience – thus – music that is honestly Australian but sounds like so many bands from far away in space and time. The lyrics are just as cutting now as they may have been back in the day – possibly more so because in so many ways this is a time capsule for Australian kids particularly to get a grip on what has come before them.

With so much diversity on the Australian music front these days, and the enormous influence of our multicultural society has had on the breaking out of new sounds it’s great to go back and hear something like this.

I highly recommend it to anyone who likes funky acid-rock with an authentic retro feel to it. One of the slickest and entertaining albums to come out for some time, Goolutionites and the Real People is a cracker!

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Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Live, Sydney Scene, Adelaide Scene, CD/DVD, News, Qstage

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Book Review - Sex and the City : The Movie

July 16th 2008 03:31

Sex and the City: The Movie
by Amy Sohn

Publisher: Headline
RRP: AUD $52.00

You didn't really think it would be just a movie did you? The glossy hard-back book of the film is a fun addition to anyones collection. It's a stylish picture version of the film with commentary from the various folk responsible for putting it all up on the big screen, so it will appeal to Sex and the City fans who want something more than just a singular trip out to see the movie. It also holds a reasonable amount of interest for writers of tele-plays or screenplays with its blow by blow description of what happens not only through the big screen film, but what preceded it in the series.

Thankfully the producers and marketers haven't gone the way of Aussie 'horn bags' Kath & Kim creating everything from oven mitts to tea towels... yet; one wonders if the SATC Movie sequel will appear in 2027 when the girls can be sexy at sixty... but that's another story and bottle of Vodka.

The book is as reasonably classy as the characters in the story - so some portions of it tend to look like an Ikea catalogue although I think this gives mere mortals an opportunity to cost out the lifestyle they'd love to have before laying their credit card on the table.

TV Series Producer HBO has an official website that will get you up to speed on where the main characters were at as the final televised program aired, and there's seemingly no end to the variety of sites on the web that offer opinion on the series; but If you'd rather curl up with a good book than stare at a screen, this is a must have. You can get the address of all your favorite locations (such as the Brooklyn Bridge or Starbucks) and scan a brief history of Carrie's hair!

Like any such dedicated tome, to some it will seem a complete waste of paper, time and money, to others it will be a proud addition to a large collection of DVD's, girls nights out and empty chocolate boxes. Be warned though, it does tell the story of the film so it contains 'spoilers', but then, everyone's seen the movie by now haven't they?

David Jobling

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THE LAZY KINGS

January 9th 2005 07:34

Tonight and tomorrow night I'm appearing as a Rat (part of the Queen of the Witches Parade) in THE LAZY KINGS the official opening ceremony of the SYDNEY FESTIVAL - it's a free show - we did it last night for a crowd of 30,000 or so - some estimates are 40,000 - so there were lots of people... Here is a photograph of the contraption I walk in.

The show is on at the Olympic Park, and if you want to see me work as hard as you'll ever see in this amazing contraption come along:

I'm powering by sheer weight and leg work the big wheel you see above, come along if you can - great show for all the family, outdoors, wire work, song, dance, mime, character, fabulous event... you'll be mildly amazed I'm sure.

THE LAZY KINGS
by Trans Express