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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.
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)
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.
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REVIEW | Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story
March 4th 2009 11:39
Fifty years to the day that Buddy Holly died in an airplane crash, 3rd February, Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story opened at the Star City Casino in the Lyric Theatre. Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley on 7th September, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas, U.S.A. His nickname came from his mother who said she called him Buddy because Charles Hardin was too long a name for such a little boy. As a child he learned to play the piano, violin, and guitar. When he was 13 years old he teamed up with school mate Bob Montgomery and they performed bluegrass locally as Buddy and Bob. Holly's break came when the duo performed as support artists for Bill Haley and his Comets resulting in Holly being contracted by Decca Records as a solo artist. His solo career was uneventful so he formed his band The Crickets and begun recording at Norman Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico where they recorded their early hit That’ll Be The Day, the phrase taken from the film The Searchers, a repeated phrase of John Wayne's.
Petty had a strong belief in Holly and contacted people he knew at Coral Records to sign him. Coral was a subsidiary of Decca and this put Holly in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time. It was in one of these early contracts that Holley became known as Holly due to a spelling mistake and he stuck with it.
Buddy Holly was progressive for his time in that he used unusual instrumentations - e.g. the celesta on “Everyday”, vocal techniques - his use of “uh” in the middle of words, and he crossed the racial divide when mistakenly booked to play the Apollo Theatre, New York which was an all-black venue and successfully wooed the audience. His influence on popular music was integral to its’ development, he also instigated a higher level of engineering in the studio by layering his recordings with multiple vocal and instrumental lines before overdubbing became the norm. Examples of this can be heard on “Words of Love” and “Listen To Me”.
Buddy has been seen here in Sydney before and has been playing somewhere in the world for nineteen years, had over 16,000 performances and been seen by an estimated 20 million viewers.
In Australia the title role is played by Scott Cameron who does an amazing job of re-creating the Buddy Holly persona. He not only sings the songs with the characteristics that are synonymous with Holly he also plays the guitar riffs with blinding accuracy.
It is well known that Buddy Holly died in a plane crash with two other music luminaries of the day namely The Big Bopper, Jiles Perry Richardson Jnr, and Ritchie Valens, Richard Steven Valenzuela. The Big Bopper (known to friends as ‘Jape’) was a DJ who carved a career out of speaking most of his lyrics and had a hit with Chantilly Lace. Ritchie Valens was the first Hispanic, American born rock and roll star with hits “Donna” and “La Bamba”.
Luke Tonkin plays The Big Bopper with panache. Ritchie Valens is played by Sydney actor Flip Simmons, he sings superbly and moves around the stage deftly with all the gyrations that Valens was renowned for.
The show not only brings back all the wonderful well known hits but gives an insight into the journey that Buddy Holly and the Crickets went on. How they began playing country music, then rockabilly, and the development of their own distinctive style. The creative team of Director Craig Ilott, Musical Director Peter Laughton, Set Designer Christopher Smith, Lighting Designer Kevin Cawley, and Sound Designer John Taylor, have created an excellent evening of rock ‘n’ roll entertainment.
Peter McGill.
Performance Times
Tuesday 8pm
Wednesday 1pm & 8pm
Thursday 8pm
Friday 8pm
Saturday 2pm & 8pm
Sunday 5pm
Address:
Star City Pty Limited
80 Pyrmont Street,
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Telephone Enquiries:
General enquiries and Administration: (02) 9777 9000
International callers: 61 2 9777 9000
Petty had a strong belief in Holly and contacted people he knew at Coral Records to sign him. Coral was a subsidiary of Decca and this put Holly in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time. It was in one of these early contracts that Holley became known as Holly due to a spelling mistake and he stuck with it.
Buddy Holly was progressive for his time in that he used unusual instrumentations - e.g. the celesta on “Everyday”, vocal techniques - his use of “uh” in the middle of words, and he crossed the racial divide when mistakenly booked to play the Apollo Theatre, New York which was an all-black venue and successfully wooed the audience. His influence on popular music was integral to its’ development, he also instigated a higher level of engineering in the studio by layering his recordings with multiple vocal and instrumental lines before overdubbing became the norm. Examples of this can be heard on “Words of Love” and “Listen To Me”.
Buddy has been seen here in Sydney before and has been playing somewhere in the world for nineteen years, had over 16,000 performances and been seen by an estimated 20 million viewers.
In Australia the title role is played by Scott Cameron who does an amazing job of re-creating the Buddy Holly persona. He not only sings the songs with the characteristics that are synonymous with Holly he also plays the guitar riffs with blinding accuracy.
It is well known that Buddy Holly died in a plane crash with two other music luminaries of the day namely The Big Bopper, Jiles Perry Richardson Jnr, and Ritchie Valens, Richard Steven Valenzuela. The Big Bopper (known to friends as ‘Jape’) was a DJ who carved a career out of speaking most of his lyrics and had a hit with Chantilly Lace. Ritchie Valens was the first Hispanic, American born rock and roll star with hits “Donna” and “La Bamba”.
Luke Tonkin plays The Big Bopper with panache. Ritchie Valens is played by Sydney actor Flip Simmons, he sings superbly and moves around the stage deftly with all the gyrations that Valens was renowned for.
The show not only brings back all the wonderful well known hits but gives an insight into the journey that Buddy Holly and the Crickets went on. How they began playing country music, then rockabilly, and the development of their own distinctive style. The creative team of Director Craig Ilott, Musical Director Peter Laughton, Set Designer Christopher Smith, Lighting Designer Kevin Cawley, and Sound Designer John Taylor, have created an excellent evening of rock ‘n’ roll entertainment.
Peter McGill.
Performance Times
Tuesday 8pm
Wednesday 1pm & 8pm
Thursday 8pm
Friday 8pm
Saturday 2pm & 8pm
Sunday 5pm
Address:
Star City Pty Limited
80 Pyrmont Street,
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Telephone Enquiries:
General enquiries and Administration: (02) 9777 9000
International callers: 61 2 9777 9000
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You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story | BOOK REVIEW
February 6th 2009 07:57
Way back in 1923 brothers Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L. Warner incorporated their new motion picture company which continues to this day to produce major films.
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. (WB) Studios’ 85th anniversary was celebrated in 2008 and part of the celebration was the release of, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, an illuminating new documentary produced, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker and Time magazine Senior Film critic Richard Schickel. Clint Eastwood narrates.
The documentary You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story was broadcast in the USA in three-parts. Now you can have much of the detail on your lap in the form of this beautiful hard cover publication written by Richard Schickel & George Perry, with a Foreword by Clint Eastwood. It's a handsomely covered coffee table book spins-off and ties-in to the five-hour PBS doco that Schickel wrote and produced. Full of essays on the studio's history from its humble beginnings through a variety of changes in corporate ownership.
Insights into characters such as John Wayne, George Cukor, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and John Ford (to name a few) are quite fascinating. The political piquancy of WB is quite evident as you sort through the hard boiled Detectives and zany crazy comics, the very drunk Elizabeth Taylor (in Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?) who have all featured heavily in one way or another in the company's history.
Warner Bros. like all film production companies tend to reflect edgy or deeply held values of society - they'll swing from one extreme to another; sometimes it's high moral ground other times it's kooky sexy strangeness they explore. Producing films for example like Driving Miss Daisy and The Witches of Eastwick in the 1980's they were not only encouraging great emerging Australian film making talent, they were giving out a vast amount of information about injustice and intolerance, a very worthy thing to do even embedded in a drama or a comedy.
WB sold us Bonnie and Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, Gypsy, Risky Business, and What's Up Doc? and Schickel & Perry cover the studio's entire history with fantastic photographs from many many films.
Poster art from films such as Yankee Doodle Dandy is beautifully reproduced with full page glossy pictures from WB's all time classic, and one of the most remembered WB films of all time Casablanca. More recent films recorded in this great history of the studio include The Matrix and The Polar Express, Sweeny Todd, of course I could go on but I think the best advice for film lovers is go out and find this book, add it to your library. It will be a great coffee table book because it is more than a nice picture book, it's got history, guts and glamor for sure.
For more information about Richard Schickel and his work, visit www.richardschickel.com
David Jobling
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. (WB) Studios’ 85th anniversary was celebrated in 2008 and part of the celebration was the release of, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, an illuminating new documentary produced, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker and Time magazine Senior Film critic Richard Schickel. Clint Eastwood narrates.
The documentary You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story was broadcast in the USA in three-parts. Now you can have much of the detail on your lap in the form of this beautiful hard cover publication written by Richard Schickel & George Perry, with a Foreword by Clint Eastwood. It's a handsomely covered coffee table book spins-off and ties-in to the five-hour PBS doco that Schickel wrote and produced. Full of essays on the studio's history from its humble beginnings through a variety of changes in corporate ownership.
Insights into characters such as John Wayne, George Cukor, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and John Ford (to name a few) are quite fascinating. The political piquancy of WB is quite evident as you sort through the hard boiled Detectives and zany crazy comics, the very drunk Elizabeth Taylor (in Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?) who have all featured heavily in one way or another in the company's history.
Warner Bros. like all film production companies tend to reflect edgy or deeply held values of society - they'll swing from one extreme to another; sometimes it's high moral ground other times it's kooky sexy strangeness they explore. Producing films for example like Driving Miss Daisy and The Witches of Eastwick in the 1980's they were not only encouraging great emerging Australian film making talent, they were giving out a vast amount of information about injustice and intolerance, a very worthy thing to do even embedded in a drama or a comedy.
WB sold us Bonnie and Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, Gypsy, Risky Business, and What's Up Doc? and Schickel & Perry cover the studio's entire history with fantastic photographs from many many films.
Poster art from films such as Yankee Doodle Dandy is beautifully reproduced with full page glossy pictures from WB's all time classic, and one of the most remembered WB films of all time Casablanca. More recent films recorded in this great history of the studio include The Matrix and The Polar Express, Sweeny Todd, of course I could go on but I think the best advice for film lovers is go out and find this book, add it to your library. It will be a great coffee table book because it is more than a nice picture book, it's got history, guts and glamor for sure.
For more information about Richard Schickel and his work, visit www.richardschickel.com
David Jobling
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REVIEW | NEIL YOUNG | BIG DAY OUT
February 3rd 2009 03:26
NEIL YOUNG AT THE BIG DAY OUT
It's difficult to find words for the emotional impact this concert took on me. What a fantastic musician, singer and personality Neil Young is. Why was I emotionally staggered seeing/hearing him? The simple answer is - he has been a constant all my life. In fact we used (my older sister) to have a green vinyl bootleg of a concert he gave in 1978 or thereabouts. It had his classics of the day on it, a good deal of rambling philosophy leaning towards preserving the natural world of the time... Mother Nature featured big then, and although she still does, it was his intense rocking soul that cracked through the generations.
Surrounded by younger folk who had spent hours and hours hearing all sorts of great music, Big Day Out crowds in Adelaide certainly took a little while to place Young's sound and appreciate it. A stinking hot day didn't really stop anyone from enjoying the day, it was awesome over all; not the least because so many of Young's songs have been part of the fabric of life for at least thirty years. When he sang Hurricane there was a swell of recognition - it was all on for the massive 30,000 strong crowd. Maybe 6000 of them were my age (mid 40's) and they mostly seemed to be sitting in the shade up the back quietly enjoying the view and the music.
Sure, down the front in the mosh pit some yelled disrespectfully "Play some rock and roll" but they didn't do that for long. Needle and the damage done caused a bit of a quiet riot. One 20-something lad who had been bagging the "old dude" on stage suddenly shut up and sat down on the cool grass. There's always been power and emotion in Young's work. Part of my excitement and enthusiasm was a direct result of watching many younger people hearing some of his classics in the flesh. The songs still mean as much, if not more, today as they did 30 years ago.
The set was dressed with a range of novel fans, hanging letters and golden light. All in all it was an excellent concert and I was just as excited at the end of it as my 15 year old was; and he was very skeptical about the whole idea of an elder statesman of folk rock (nearly as old as his grandfather) until the messages and emotional journeys.
Top quality, no holes barred - beautiful concert.
NEIL YOUNG at BIG DAY OUT? You better believe it. From the festival that brought you the likes of Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Nick Cave. In 2009, BIG DAY OUT presents legendary guitarist and songwriter NEIL YOUNG –Anti-war protestor. Hall of Famer. Environmental crusader. Instantly recognisable vocalist. Father. Social activist. Filmmaker. Godfather of Grunge. Oscar-nominated songwriter. Crazy Horse. Buffalo Springfield. Crosby, Stills, Nash and…
YOUNG’s 90-minute BIG DAY OUT sets around the nation will crackle into life at 8.30pm on the main stage and are guaranteed to be full of classics. His electric band features long-time cohort and pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Rick Rosas, drummer Chad Cromwell, guitarist Anthony Crawford and singer/guitarist (and wife) Pegi Young.
For a taste of what you’re in for, check out this hit-heavy setlist YOUNG played at Denmark’s Roskilde festival earlier this year: Love and Only Love; Hey Hey, My My; Powderfinger; Spirit Road; Cinnamon Girl; All Along the Watchtower; Oh, Lonesome Me; Mother Earth; The Needle and the Damage Done; Unknown Legend; Heart of Gold; Old Man; Get Back to the Country; Words; No Hidden Path; A Day in the Life.
Reviews from YOUNG’s string of festival appearances this past European summer have singled the shows out as some of his best in years – pointing to the feelgood singalong moments, the band’s awe-inspiring rock playing and “full-on electric assault”, the moving and “simply harmonious” nature of the “quieter section” of the set, the frontman’s good mood, and the great atmosphere in the crowd.
“NEIL YOUNG is… NEIL YOUNG. How else can it be put? No one else can do this. Live, he’s the greatest, hands down. A cathartic and primal musical experience.” (Epoch Times, July 2008)
Back in the States in October, Spin witnessed this elder statesman of rock kick off his US tour by breathing “new vitality into songs more than three decades old… his set became a veritable greatest hits collection”.
It’s been five years since YOUNG last toured Down Under – and even longer since he delivered such a dream setlist for fans. Who knows when he will be back again? So whether you’ve followed him for years, or you’re in need of a rock’n’roll history lesson, NEIL YOUNG at BIG DAY OUT 2009 is a rarefied experience you can’t afford to miss.
Tickets to his Sydney and Melbourne solo shows and to the Sydney and Gold Coast BIG DAY OUTs were snapped up within hours of going on sale but if you’re quick you may still be able to experience one of the greatest rock and roll experiences of your lifetime at one of the following shows.
NEIL YOUNG SOLO SHOWS
supported by My Morning Jacket
BRISBANE l Wednesday 21 January l BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: Ticketek www.ticketek.com.au Outlets and Phonecharge 132 849
SYDNEY l Sat 24 January l SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: Ticketmaster www.tickemaster.com.au Outlets and Phone charge 136 100
MELBOURNE l Wednesday 28 January l MYER MUSIC BOWL l SOLD OUT!!!
Please go to bigdayout.com for all ticketing details.
NEIL YOUNG AT THE BIG DAY OUT 2009
GOLD COAST l Sunday 18 January l Parklands
SOLD OUT ticket ballot in place
SYDNEY l Friday 23 January l Sydney Showground
SOLD OUT ticket ballot in place
MELBOURNE l Monday 26 January l Flemington Racecourse
BDO website SOLD OUT
Available from Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au
ADELAIDE lFriday 30 January l Adelaide Showground
Available from Krypton Discs (Glenelg), Mr V Music (Semaphore), Elevator Music (Seaford), Globalize (Rundle Mall, Elizabeth, Noarlunga), Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au and from our website www.bigdayout.com
PERTH l Sunday 1 February l Claremont Showground
Available from 78 Records (Perth), Mills Records (Fremantle), Planet Video (Mt Lawley), Live Clothing, Malibu Dive (Perth), Bassendean Newsagency (Bassendean), Cellarbrations (Bayswater), Trax (Mandurah), Collins Music (Bunbury), Blue 62 (Busselton), Geraldton CD Centre (Geraldton), Kalgoorlie Sound (Kalgoorlie), Vibes (Albany), Chinatown Music (Broome), Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, ticketmaster.com.au or go to bigdayout.com for all ticketing details.
It's difficult to find words for the emotional impact this concert took on me. What a fantastic musician, singer and personality Neil Young is. Why was I emotionally staggered seeing/hearing him? The simple answer is - he has been a constant all my life. In fact we used (my older sister) to have a green vinyl bootleg of a concert he gave in 1978 or thereabouts. It had his classics of the day on it, a good deal of rambling philosophy leaning towards preserving the natural world of the time... Mother Nature featured big then, and although she still does, it was his intense rocking soul that cracked through the generations.
Surrounded by younger folk who had spent hours and hours hearing all sorts of great music, Big Day Out crowds in Adelaide certainly took a little while to place Young's sound and appreciate it. A stinking hot day didn't really stop anyone from enjoying the day, it was awesome over all; not the least because so many of Young's songs have been part of the fabric of life for at least thirty years. When he sang Hurricane there was a swell of recognition - it was all on for the massive 30,000 strong crowd. Maybe 6000 of them were my age (mid 40's) and they mostly seemed to be sitting in the shade up the back quietly enjoying the view and the music.
Sure, down the front in the mosh pit some yelled disrespectfully "Play some rock and roll" but they didn't do that for long. Needle and the damage done caused a bit of a quiet riot. One 20-something lad who had been bagging the "old dude" on stage suddenly shut up and sat down on the cool grass. There's always been power and emotion in Young's work. Part of my excitement and enthusiasm was a direct result of watching many younger people hearing some of his classics in the flesh. The songs still mean as much, if not more, today as they did 30 years ago.
The set was dressed with a range of novel fans, hanging letters and golden light. All in all it was an excellent concert and I was just as excited at the end of it as my 15 year old was; and he was very skeptical about the whole idea of an elder statesman of folk rock (nearly as old as his grandfather) until the messages and emotional journeys.
Top quality, no holes barred - beautiful concert.
NEIL YOUNG at BIG DAY OUT? You better believe it. From the festival that brought you the likes of Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Nick Cave. In 2009, BIG DAY OUT presents legendary guitarist and songwriter NEIL YOUNG –Anti-war protestor. Hall of Famer. Environmental crusader. Instantly recognisable vocalist. Father. Social activist. Filmmaker. Godfather of Grunge. Oscar-nominated songwriter. Crazy Horse. Buffalo Springfield. Crosby, Stills, Nash and…
YOUNG’s 90-minute BIG DAY OUT sets around the nation will crackle into life at 8.30pm on the main stage and are guaranteed to be full of classics. His electric band features long-time cohort and pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Rick Rosas, drummer Chad Cromwell, guitarist Anthony Crawford and singer/guitarist (and wife) Pegi Young.
For a taste of what you’re in for, check out this hit-heavy setlist YOUNG played at Denmark’s Roskilde festival earlier this year: Love and Only Love; Hey Hey, My My; Powderfinger; Spirit Road; Cinnamon Girl; All Along the Watchtower; Oh, Lonesome Me; Mother Earth; The Needle and the Damage Done; Unknown Legend; Heart of Gold; Old Man; Get Back to the Country; Words; No Hidden Path; A Day in the Life.
Reviews from YOUNG’s string of festival appearances this past European summer have singled the shows out as some of his best in years – pointing to the feelgood singalong moments, the band’s awe-inspiring rock playing and “full-on electric assault”, the moving and “simply harmonious” nature of the “quieter section” of the set, the frontman’s good mood, and the great atmosphere in the crowd.
“NEIL YOUNG is… NEIL YOUNG. How else can it be put? No one else can do this. Live, he’s the greatest, hands down. A cathartic and primal musical experience.” (Epoch Times, July 2008)
Back in the States in October, Spin witnessed this elder statesman of rock kick off his US tour by breathing “new vitality into songs more than three decades old… his set became a veritable greatest hits collection”.
It’s been five years since YOUNG last toured Down Under – and even longer since he delivered such a dream setlist for fans. Who knows when he will be back again? So whether you’ve followed him for years, or you’re in need of a rock’n’roll history lesson, NEIL YOUNG at BIG DAY OUT 2009 is a rarefied experience you can’t afford to miss.
Tickets to his Sydney and Melbourne solo shows and to the Sydney and Gold Coast BIG DAY OUTs were snapped up within hours of going on sale but if you’re quick you may still be able to experience one of the greatest rock and roll experiences of your lifetime at one of the following shows.
NEIL YOUNG SOLO SHOWS
supported by My Morning Jacket
BRISBANE l Wednesday 21 January l BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: Ticketek www.ticketek.com.au Outlets and Phonecharge 132 849
SYDNEY l Sat 24 January l SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: Ticketmaster www.tickemaster.com.au Outlets and Phone charge 136 100
MELBOURNE l Wednesday 28 January l MYER MUSIC BOWL l SOLD OUT!!!
Please go to bigdayout.com for all ticketing details.
NEIL YOUNG AT THE BIG DAY OUT 2009
GOLD COAST l Sunday 18 January l Parklands
SOLD OUT ticket ballot in place
SYDNEY l Friday 23 January l Sydney Showground
SOLD OUT ticket ballot in place
MELBOURNE l Monday 26 January l Flemington Racecourse
BDO website SOLD OUT
Available from Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au
ADELAIDE lFriday 30 January l Adelaide Showground
Available from Krypton Discs (Glenelg), Mr V Music (Semaphore), Elevator Music (Seaford), Globalize (Rundle Mall, Elizabeth, Noarlunga), Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au and from our website www.bigdayout.com
PERTH l Sunday 1 February l Claremont Showground
Available from 78 Records (Perth), Mills Records (Fremantle), Planet Video (Mt Lawley), Live Clothing, Malibu Dive (Perth), Bassendean Newsagency (Bassendean), Cellarbrations (Bayswater), Trax (Mandurah), Collins Music (Bunbury), Blue 62 (Busselton), Geraldton CD Centre (Geraldton), Kalgoorlie Sound (Kalgoorlie), Vibes (Albany), Chinatown Music (Broome), Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, ticketmaster.com.au or go to bigdayout.com for all ticketing details.
| 62 |
| Vote |
[ Link ]
Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Adelaide Scene, Australia National , Qstage
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
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
| 31 |
| Vote |
[ Link ]
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.
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.
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.
jazz and swing with a splattering of funk
that is all class
Peter McGill
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.
| 43 |
| Vote |
[ Link ]
WICKED | Vale | Rob Guest
October 3rd 2008 22:04
VALE | Rob Guest (1950 - 2008)
Much loved and greatly talented thespian Rob Guest has passed away. He had been at home with his partner Kellie Dickerson, Wicked's musical director, when he collapsed about 10pm on Tuesday. In true theatre style, the show must go on, and so the Wicked cast did it with 'Guesty' in heart and mind as understudy Rodney Dobson played the Wizard, the role Guest had been performing.
Guest, 58, suffered a massive stroke on Tuesday evening in Melbourne and died early Thursday in St Vincent's Hospital after he was taken off life support, surrounded by family and friends.
The first unexpected news reports revealed his condition to be extremely grave; family, friends and fans drew their best attentions towards the well traveled actor and singer who started his life journey in England and was awarded an OBE for his services to the New Zealand entertainment industry later in life. Guest found success in USA then New Zealand as a pop star before arriving in Australia to perform in Les Miserables some years ago.
As well as Les Miserables and roles in many other shows, Guest spent seven years in the lead role as the Phantom of the Opera, performing over 2,000 performances.
Guest, relocated to Melbourne from the Gold Coast when he took the role in Wicked.
When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heav'n so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heav'n so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
The inaugural WICKED DAY will be held on Sunday 26 October 2008 at the Regent Theatre. WICKED will join forces with ANZ and Starlight Children's Foundation to create some WICKED magic for seriously ill children and their families.
This exclusive event includes a never been seen before pre-show experience hosted by Australian Producer John Frost & a ticket to the 1pm performance of WICKED (children are welcome).
Limited tickets available at $250 per head, subject to availability. Proceeds donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation. To book, please contact Ticketek Groups on (03) 9299 9030.
The official companion to the Broadway Musical
Wicked:The Grimmerie
By David Cote
This Hyperion Book is the readers master class to Wicked the stage
musical; it contains the story of the show, how it came together, the songs, the characters in breakdown and a great deal of excellent photography showing various props and set elements. It's more than a superficial look and will delight those already planning to travel
East for the Australian cast version of the show. New musicals are not exactly rare – but ones that actually entertain an audience and provide something new and engaging don't come around all that often. As one follows the yellow brick road to Wicked early on in the book it's made clear The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is the initial
inspiration to Wicked (first the novel, then the stage musical) and
much is made of the timeless characteristics of that original font of
all things Oz.
The question 'Are people born wicked?' drives the subtext of the musical and to some degree it begs the answer 'Are people born American?!' which is not to suggest that Americans are wicked, but that the story is very American, and a fascinating reflection on the shifting standards and morals between the satirical original Oz stories and today's inspired revisiting of that wondrous place.
Wicked: The Grimmerie will provide solid insights for High School Drama students as well as anyone who wants to study theatre production or get swept up in the strikingly green world of Elphaba (she destined to become the Wicked Witch) and her salad days.
David Jobling
| 115 |
| Vote |
Comments (1)[ Link ]
Tripple J Vault to go!
September 30th 2008 13:53
REVIEW |
Live at the Wireless | from the vaults |
VOLUME 2
As a community radio broadcaster, and the music library coordinator for the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) for five years I never imagined Silverchair and The Herd would be likely to end up on the same compilation CD, and yet here they are.
I'm not a big fan of the Silverchair lads, I like the music but I think the band are a bunch of arseholes (because) I appeared as an actor in their film clip for Emotion Sickness a few years back, and got fully ripped off, they never paid me, they didn't even provide me with a copy of the finished video which was a promise that they'd made... so I consider them quite cheap nasty abusive users.
I do like The Herd a great deal, and would happily appear in a video for them and I wouldn't care if I were paid or not because, that's how much I enjoy what they've brought to the table as far as new Australian music is concerned.
I have decided it's the mark of a good compilation album to have tracks that I wouldn't usually listen to getting played as I figure out what I'm going to say about it. This Tripple J compilation is the follow up to Volume One... and it's a good overview of the sort of music Tripple J does best; live recordings of in-house broadcasts or special concert gigs set up by the national youth broadcaster.
The range of material on this album is fun to listen to without seeming it's a paint by numbers glimpse of recent Aussie music; in fact it's not all Aussie music, which is also pretty cool and some of it is not so recent. The Ramones (from the 1980's), Iggy and the Stooges (2006), Xavier Rudd (2004) all have a moment on the album, and there is some doubling up on the special DVD that's part of the pack. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings is an inspired inclusion and brings the decidedly harsher energy of the opening tracks down enough to be ready for Josh Pyke directly after her.
Obviously the production values are tops on this compilation, after all these are recordings in a radio station studio or by hot producers who work in the same, and there's a strong feeling of it being live, which I love. It's something to do with the way the sound is resonating, the artists are breathing, the words are rich with vibrant now-ness...
Until the aforementioned Josh Pyke more or less makes a bit of a dick out of the situation by announcing that it's "Tripple J's Live on the Wireless", d'oh.. yeah.. right?
I like Josh Pyke, but only when he sings, so again it's kind of amusing to have to think twice for a moment.. like, I'm listening to a CD eh? NOT the wireless... but again, he sings so well I'll forgive his mild outburst of stating the bleeding obvious because Memories and Dust is one of my favorite songs out of the Pyke songbook, and Josh himself is not responsible for leaving the random announcement on the CD.
1981 at the Governors Pleasure, and The Sunnyboys start to lick their steel electrics and shine up the twangy sounds that kept them buoyant for the best part of that decade. I love the way some of these tracks separated by a couple of decades vibrate out of the speakers and seem like it's all the same big, amazing gig. The Kaiser Chiefs get the crowds roaring live at The Forum, then there's N.E.R.D. at The Enmore being fabulous and letting the crowd ply the lyrics just as sharply as themselves. That's the really comfy element to the album, the audience are on the ball, be it 2000, 1981 or 2007 the lovers of great music over the decades here have maintained a pretty down with it attitude and they don't go to a concert for a dull time.
Consequently the album rocks with the best of them and really satisfies. I just wanted to mosh around the room saying Hell Yeah! which is fun if you have the right soundtrack, otherwise you may as well be sitting watching sing-a-long-Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and feeling like a dork.
I think this is a truly entertaining album, good for a house party, great for background music and quite fine for turning right up and just chilling out to.
Did I mention there's a DVD included? It is great. Better than great. It's something that is only going to get better as time goes on because eventually it will be what you listened to 'in the day' and it will connect you no matter how old you may be, with the spirit of the happy live presentation of groovy music.
It's a neat little package and I highly recommend you give it a spin.
David Jobling
Live at the Wireless | from the vaults |
VOLUME 2
As a community radio broadcaster, and the music library coordinator for the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) for five years I never imagined Silverchair and The Herd would be likely to end up on the same compilation CD, and yet here they are.
I'm not a big fan of the Silverchair lads, I like the music but I think the band are a bunch of arseholes (because) I appeared as an actor in their film clip for Emotion Sickness a few years back, and got fully ripped off, they never paid me, they didn't even provide me with a copy of the finished video which was a promise that they'd made... so I consider them quite cheap nasty abusive users.
I do like The Herd a great deal, and would happily appear in a video for them and I wouldn't care if I were paid or not because, that's how much I enjoy what they've brought to the table as far as new Australian music is concerned.
I have decided it's the mark of a good compilation album to have tracks that I wouldn't usually listen to getting played as I figure out what I'm going to say about it. This Tripple J compilation is the follow up to Volume One... and it's a good overview of the sort of music Tripple J does best; live recordings of in-house broadcasts or special concert gigs set up by the national youth broadcaster.
The range of material on this album is fun to listen to without seeming it's a paint by numbers glimpse of recent Aussie music; in fact it's not all Aussie music, which is also pretty cool and some of it is not so recent. The Ramones (from the 1980's), Iggy and the Stooges (2006), Xavier Rudd (2004) all have a moment on the album, and there is some doubling up on the special DVD that's part of the pack. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings is an inspired inclusion and brings the decidedly harsher energy of the opening tracks down enough to be ready for Josh Pyke directly after her.
Obviously the production values are tops on this compilation, after all these are recordings in a radio station studio or by hot producers who work in the same, and there's a strong feeling of it being live, which I love. It's something to do with the way the sound is resonating, the artists are breathing, the words are rich with vibrant now-ness...
Until the aforementioned Josh Pyke more or less makes a bit of a dick out of the situation by announcing that it's "Tripple J's Live on the Wireless", d'oh.. yeah.. right?
I like Josh Pyke, but only when he sings, so again it's kind of amusing to have to think twice for a moment.. like, I'm listening to a CD eh? NOT the wireless... but again, he sings so well I'll forgive his mild outburst of stating the bleeding obvious because Memories and Dust is one of my favorite songs out of the Pyke songbook, and Josh himself is not responsible for leaving the random announcement on the CD.
1981 at the Governors Pleasure, and The Sunnyboys start to lick their steel electrics and shine up the twangy sounds that kept them buoyant for the best part of that decade. I love the way some of these tracks separated by a couple of decades vibrate out of the speakers and seem like it's all the same big, amazing gig. The Kaiser Chiefs get the crowds roaring live at The Forum, then there's N.E.R.D. at The Enmore being fabulous and letting the crowd ply the lyrics just as sharply as themselves. That's the really comfy element to the album, the audience are on the ball, be it 2000, 1981 or 2007 the lovers of great music over the decades here have maintained a pretty down with it attitude and they don't go to a concert for a dull time.
Consequently the album rocks with the best of them and really satisfies. I just wanted to mosh around the room saying Hell Yeah! which is fun if you have the right soundtrack, otherwise you may as well be sitting watching sing-a-long-Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and feeling like a dork.
I think this is a truly entertaining album, good for a house party, great for background music and quite fine for turning right up and just chilling out to.
Did I mention there's a DVD included? It is great. Better than great. It's something that is only going to get better as time goes on because eventually it will be what you listened to 'in the day' and it will connect you no matter how old you may be, with the spirit of the happy live presentation of groovy music.
It's a neat little package and I highly recommend you give it a spin.
David Jobling
| 47 |
| Vote |
[ Link ]
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
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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