Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi's latest movie "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is based on the book "Wild Pork and Watercress" by Barry Crump. The plot centers around young teen Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) who is placed into a foster home in the country by New Zealand child protective services. When Uncle Hec's (Sam Neill) wife Bella passes away suddenly, it is decided Ricky will be placed with another family. However, Ricky has other ideas and runs away into the bush, with Uncle Hec soon following after him.

When child protective services return to the house and can't find Ricky, they determine he's been abducted by Uncle Hec and a huge national manhunt commences. While on the run Ricky and Uncle Hec encounter lots of different characters along the way, and it all ends in a pretty spectacular chase scene as the social worker (Rachel House) finally gets her target. While I don't think it's as funny as Waititi's 2014 film "What We Do In The Shadows," "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is an offbeat and charming movie with a unique Kiwi sense of humor.

The Living End- Shift Tour

It's been five years since The Living End last released an album, so in support of their seventh album Shift they played the first of two sold out shows tonight at The Forum. The opening act for the evening was 131's, a Melbourne four piece punk band full of muscles and tattoos. Next up was Adelaide indie rock band Bad//Dreems. Their lead singer spent most of the set roaming around the stage as the rest of the band kept a driving rhythm going throughout each song.

The Living End arrived on stage to huge cheers and started off the evening with the first single from Shift "Monkey." The set list contained songs from throughout their career, and the newer material such as "Death," "Keep On Running" and "Staring Down The Barrel" held up well alongside their older tracks. The first two albums featured prominently in the set with "All Torn Down," "Second Solution," and "Prisoner of Society" off The Living End, and "Roll On," "Killing The Right" (the best political song I think Chris has ever written), "Pictures In The Mirror" and "Uncle Harry" (an audience request) off my favorite album of theirs Roll On.

"Hold Up" and "What's On Your Radio?" had the crowd jumping and everyone sang along to "White Noise," which was the last song of the main set. For the encore they played a stomping "How Do We Know?" before ending the night with an epic version of "West End Riot" (with a bit of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" in the middle of it). All in all it was another amazing show from one of the best live bands to ever emerge from Australia. You know you'll get your money's worth between Chris' guitar playing and the theatrics of Scott and Chris standing on the double bass.

Here is the video for the latest single "Keep On Running"

Alex Gow and Dan Kelly- The Australian Dreamers Tour

Alex Gow (Oh Mercy) and Dan Kelly's Australian Dreamers Tour has been working its way around the country for the past four weeks. Luckily for me there was a second swing through Victoria so Belinda and I took a little road trip to Geelong for tonight's final show of the tour at The Workers Club.

It was a small and intimate crowd at the venue (possibly due to Geelong playing footy this evening). Emma Russack was the opening act and did a solo set on electric guitar. She sounded good and I really enjoyed her last song about wishing she knew her famous older ex-boyfriend in his prime.

The format for these shows was Alex and Dan playing both solo and together on each other's songs. Alex came out first and opened the evening with "Lady Eucalyptus" and "Iron Cross" before Dan joined him on stage for "Sandy." It was then Alex's turn to depart as Dan played "Baby Bonus" and "Ex Bandido" solo. The guys were quite funny with their introductions to songs and assorted requests to the soundman for different vocal effects on their mics (e.g. whale, Mary MacKillop). Dan got the audience involved in singing along to the chorus for "Everything's Amazing" and "Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam." The guys did a tropicalia version of Oh Mercy's "Drums" and a shortened "On The Run" off Dan's Leisure Panic! album.

Alex played "My Man" and "Deep Heat" solo, and was quite thrilled to no longer have to play the harmonica solo again for the later after tonight (I actually didn't mind the harmonica as it was a bit of a throw back to those early Oh Mercy shows). Dan and Alex rejoined forces for "Never Stop The Rot" and ended the evening with a very psychedelic version of "Dan Kelly's Dream" which had Alex on keys and samples and also included a bit of Canned Heat's "On The Road Again." It was a great show and I wish I had been in town to catch the earlier Melbourne date.

Here are a couple songs Alex and Dan did together in May as part of Tram Sessions:

SFMOMA

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has been closed for renovations for the past three years, so I was excited it finally reopened in mid-May and that I would get a chance to check it out while visiting the Bay Area. The building itself is beautiful, and there are seven floors with multiple exhibitions around certain themes on each level to explore. Needless to say, I spent most of my day there.

There are many highlights and must sees when visiting SFMOMA. Alexander Calder: Motion Lab showcases his pieces from the late 1920s to late 1960s both inside a gallery and outside on a terrace.

Alexander Calder

Many different pop artists are featured in Pop, Minimal and Figurative Art including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close and Sol LeWitt among others.

Andy Warhol

Roy Lichtenstein

Chuck Close

Sol LeWitt

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; George Segal

Another interesting exhibition is Typeface to Interface which explores graphic design since 1950. It features posters and other visual communication tools (including the 1984 prototype of the Apple touch-screen tablet), as well as computer programed drawings being done on a chalkboard wall.

SFMOMA also has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures on display in Open Ended, which features masterworks and experimental pieces from some of the world's most famous artists all in one place.

Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian and O'Keeffe

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

Dali, Magritte, Duchamp and Rothko

Calgary

Our last day in Canada was spent exploring downtown Calgary. First we went to the Calgary Tower for its 360 degree panoramic views of the city. As we walked around the observation deck you could see Calgary, the surrounding prairies and even the Canadian Rockies out in the distance.

Near the Tower is Stephen Avenue Walk, which is a pedestrian mall during the day lined with shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. If you have the time you can do some shopping and then grab something to eat from a wide range of restaurants along the walk. 

We ended up spending the majority of our day at the wonderful Glenbow museum, which has a variety of art and history exhibitions across three levels of its building. My favorite exhibition was Kaleidoscopic Animalia, which was designed and curated by fashion designer and Glenbow Artist-in-Residence Paul Hardy. He combined original fashion designs with animal inspired artifacts and artworks from the museum's collection to create thematic department store style windows. It was a very unique way to put things together, and the exhibition had a playful and humorous undercurrent in many of the displays. It is on until 5 September 2016.

There were also two exhibitions focused on Canada's First Peoples with Native Cultures from the Four Directions, and Niitsitapiisini: Our Way of Life which focused on the history, traditions and values of the Blackfoot people from their own perspective.

On the walk back to the hotel to pick up our rental car I took one of my favorite shots from the trip - reflections of the sky and surrounding skyscrapers on two glass skyscrapers downtown. This trip has shown you can find beauty both in nature and urban environments.

We drove to the airport mid-afternoon to make sure we would beat the traffic and check in on time for our early evening flight to San Francisco. In what was a first for me, we actually went through United States customs in Canada. Unfortunately the international terminal is currently under construction, so it was very cramped with a lot of areas blocked off. We did manage to grab a table to eat a late lunch/early dinner at The Pub before boarding our flight home. On the way back to Marin we encountered some of the thickest fog I've ever seen driving through San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Banff

Today we explored the town of Banff for our last day in the Canadian Rockies. The downtown area along Banff Avenue is the shopping boutique and restaurant strip with a mountain village feel. The Bow River flows south of downtown, which you cross to get to a few tourist attractions around town.

Our first stop was Sulphur Mountain and the Banff Gondola. The fully enclosed gondola cabins hold four people and glide up the mountain quietly during an eight-minute journey to the top. Unfortunately the upper terminal building was under construction (it's due to open later this summer), but the 360 degree views at the top are pretty spectacular as you walk along the one kilometer ridgetop boardwalk. There are not only great views of the town of Banff, but also all the surrounding mountain ranges. We had brief periods of drizzle and sunshine as we walked around and even saw some ground squirrels and mountain sheep before heading back down the mountain.

Next we went to Cave and Basin National Historic Site, the birthplace of Canada's national park system. In 1883 three railway workers discovered the hot springs and tried to make a claim for the land, which the government turned into a reserve in 1885. There is a boardwalk around the basin and hot springs, which flow down the hill into a mineral pool with different colored algae. Here you can also find the endangered Banff springs snail (which is why you are not allowed to touch the water).

The Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum along the Bow River looks like a log fortress. It is Alberta's oldest museum and has artifacts and life-size dioramas of the traditional life of the First Nations people from this region. I found the articles of clothing and related artifacts to be the most interesting part of the displays.

We then bid farewell to Banff, driving east on the Trans-Canada Highway to our next destination, Calgary. The Canadian Rockies slowly disappeared in the distance and the landscape became more flat plains. We made good time and knew we had hit the outer limits of Calgary due to the traffic. On our way into the city we passed Canada Olympic Park and the ski jumps that were used in the 1988 Winter Olympics. We managed to navigate our way to the International Hotel of Calgary in downtown where we are staying tonight. Tomorrow we will explore Calgary and then fly back to San Francisco.

Lake Louise

It was nice to have a bit of a sleep in this morning now that we are off the Rocky Mountaineer. After eating breakfast Mom and I walked into downtown Banff to pick up our rental car for the next few days. Today we explored Lake Louise, which is about an hour north of Banff and part of Banff National Park.

We drove to Lake Louise on the scenic Bow Valley Parkway, which runs parallel to the Trans-Canada Highway. The Parkway has a lower speed limit and allows you the opportunity to see wildlife and make sightseeing stops along the way. One of the first things that we saw was a giant elk eating along the side of the road, which triggered cars to pull over to get photos (it reminded me of being on safari in Africa). We made stops at Moose Meadows, the Castle Mountain viewpoint (a mountain that used to be named for President Eisenhower), and Morant's Curve, with its views of the Bow River and the railway. The most surprising discovery was a memorial for the Castle Mountain Internment Camp, which housed hundreds of "enemy aliens" of Eastern European descent during World War I.

We arrived at Lake Louise around lunchtime, so decided to stop and eat at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. We sat at a window table in the Lakeview Lounge, which had magnificent views of Lake Louise and the Victoria Glacier. The food was quite good. For mains we had the Lakeview beef burger and dal makhani, and for dessert we ordered the lemon cheesecake and spiced blackberry pear cake (along with a hot chocolate for me).

When you first see Lake Louise you are in awe of its crystal clear turquoise glacial waters and the beauty of the whole area. We walked along the path that goes around the right side of the lake to get closer views of Lake Louise, Victoria Glacier and the surrounding mountains.

Next we headed south to Moraine Lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, which also presents a breathtaking view when you first see it. There is a giant Rockpile as you enter the lake area, and you can walk along the rocky shoreline or the trail running parallel to the lake. There are pretty amazing views from whichever angle you stand at.

As we drove back to Banff on the Trans-Canada Highway we were lucky enough to see a rainbow appear across the highway. Overall it was a day of spectacular natural beauty.