Hungry Kids of Hungary- The Final Escapade Tour

After surviving moving yesterday afternoon and getting some unpacking done, I headed out for the evening to meet up with Mary at the Hi-Fi Bar to see Hungry Kids of Hungary.  When I arrived Andy Bull was nearing the end of his set.  I would have been there earlier if I knew he was going to be second on the bill.  The next band was The Chemist, who played a solid set.  I recognized some of their songs from when I saw them play last year.  Highlights included "Lullaby #1," End of July," "Things Have Changed" and the very rock ending to their set which included an extended jam that kept going and going.

Hungry Kids of Hungary entered the stage to death metal, which was quite funny.  They bravely started their set with a new song before launching into "Scattered Diamonds."  It was great to hear some of my favorites off Escapades including "China Will Wait," "Wristwatch," and "Coming Around."  Besides another new song, we were also treated to "Last Waltz," a song they did with Andy Bull.  As a side note, I think Dean and Andy had a little inside joke going on with their matching rolled up pants and boat shoes.  The last song of the main set was an energetic "Let You Down."  As is tradition, the encore began with a cover- this time it was Smashing Pumpkins' "1979."  The final song of the night was their first big single "Set It Right."  After this tour finishes the boys will disappear for a while to start working on material for their next album.  I'm glad they have had so much success with Escapades and are really building up a following in Australia.

Moving House

It all started with an ominous phone call a couple months ago from the real estate agents.  The owners wanted to get the the property appraised.  A few weeks later my fears were confirmed when I got another call saying that my apartment was being put up for private sale.  Despite my hopes that an investor would buy it, I got my notice to vacate around the start of April.  I spent a couple weeks looking at properties, including one Saturday where I went to five different inspections.  There were a lot of people at many of the inspections, but thankfully I have found a decent place to live that is very close to my current apartment.

I spent the Easter holiday packing and picked up my keys today.  I've already made a few walking trips to the new place bringing stuff over I don't really want to pack such as picture frames and food.  Tomorrow is the big moving day and I have been finishing my packing tonight while watching a little thing called the royal wedding.  I'm sad to be leaving my current place.  I think it would be different if I had actually chose to move.  This is the downside to renting- sometimes you don't have control over things.

MICF: Charlie Pickering- Rodeo, Burqa, Circumcision

I said farewell to Ruth and Danny and then got in line for Charlie Pickering's show Rodeo, Burqa, Circumcision.  Charlie did a solid set of stand-up for his hour long show.  I learned some interesting things about him throughout the night.  At the end of each episode of The 7pm Project, after Charlie signs off he draws a dick and balls on the news script.  He is circumcised.  And maybe most surprising of all, he has a great love for 90's era West Coast gangsta rap.  My favorite bit of the show was about how he replaced the n-word with "fella" so he could sing rap songs out loud.  His demonstration of this in a pseudo old timey voice was very funny.

Charlie also discussed people wanting to ban burqas and how everyone feels like an outsider at some point.  He then told us about going to Afghanistan to do comedy for the troops and how he broke through the language barrier and bonded with an Afghan man while playing cricket by drawing a dick and balls in the dirt.  If you only knew Charlie from his tv work the show may have been an eye opener, but I'm sure he found it refreshing to not be confined to the limits of his early evening tv time slots.

MICF: Lawrence Leung Wants a Jetpack

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is on once again this year.  Ruth, Danny and I met up for dinner on Lygon Street before heading to the Trades Hall to see Lawrence Leung.  In this show Lawrence is inspired by an old photo of his father, and wants to have ambition and purpose like his Dad did at his age.  So he decides to give up his quest to make friends with an Ewok and aim higher- to fly.

Lawrence recounts that tv shows in the 80's talked about a future where people would travel around using jetpacks.  He wants to be able to fly in a jetpack and starts his quest by contacting some of the few rocket men in the world, but they ignore his requests.  So he finds a local guy who likes to tinker in his shed (a bogan MacGyver) and convinces him to build a jetpack.  Unfortunately for Lawrence, it's made mostly out of lawnmower parts. They decide to try out their jetpack for the first time at the annual Birdman Rally along the Yarra River.  The video of this was both frightening and hilarious to watch.  Although Lawrence only lasted about 3 seconds in the air, he did win the George Abel Crafty Combinations award and some prize money, which he plans to use to buy stock in a NZ jetpack company.  I really enjoyed the show and Lawrence's use of photos, animation, voice mail and video to tell the story.

Oh Mercy- Great Barrier Grief Tour

Last night Mary and I met up at Mexicali Rose for dinner before heading to the Corner Hotel to see Oh Mercy's sold out show.  The first band of the evening was The Ocean Party, who I have been wanting to see live for a while now.  They had a good set of indie music with some standout tracks, and contained members of other bands that I saw at the Kins residency a few weeks ago.

Next up was Gossling (aka Helen Croome).  Her songs and band were decent but I just couldn't get past her voice, which sounds like a chipmunk.  It was like they had some sort of helium effect on the microphone, but no, it was her real voice.  Very unfortunate.

Before Oh Mercy took the stage they played a very good selection of classic Aussie music over the PA while we waited.  The band started their set with "Keith St" and then played my favorite song off Privileged Woes, "Broken Ears" next.  We were very fortunate to hear all of the new album Great Barrier Grief played live.  Highlights were "What You Do" with a great guitar solo by Simon, "Let Me Go," "Tenderness," and having Eliza sing lead vocals on "Doldrums." They finished the main set with "Stay Please Stay," and for the encore did a ripping cover of Leonard Cohen's "Memories" before finishing the night with "Lay Everything on Me."  It's exciting to see them become more popular and to sell out the Corner was a great accomplishment.

Here's the video for the fabulous "Stay Please Stay"