The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Tonight Sally and I went to the Palace Pentridge Cinema to see Joel Coen's new film The Tragedy Of Macbeth, which was written by Coen based on William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It stars Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth and they put in incredible performances along with all the other actors in the cast. 

 

The film is shot in black and white and the cinematography and brutalist architecture of the set really add to the tension and drama of the scenes and actors emerge from shadows into the light. It took a bit to get my brain into the rhythm of iambic pentameter at the start, but then I could just sit back an enjoy this adaptation.

Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner

Tonight Ash, Simone and I headed to Mission to Seafarers after work for a pre-holiday celebration by attending Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner. The show featured performances by several drag artists, DJ Jack Hardmen on the decks, and a three-course dinner by award winning chef Jamie Donovan. The attendance at tonight's show was lower due to a few late cancellations because of the current coronavirus wave of the Omicron variant sweeping through Melbourne, but that didn't dampen people's spirits.

My favorites Dazza and Keif were the MCs for the evening and opened the show with their dance routine to the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic." Each artist did two routines for the night, and their second one was to a medley of Lil Nas X songs. Uff the Queen brought the glamour with her lip syncs to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Miss Friby had the most interesting and humorous numbers of the night with her renditions of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" and The Champs "Tequila."

 

In between acts we were treated to our three-course dinner. It began with a mix of entrees including hummus, Panko crumbed mushroom arancini, and house tea-smoked salmon. The mains were a mix of foods from around the world with a slow-cooked beef brisket, tandoori chicken, polenta triangles, Mexican corn cobs, and a Middle Eastern grain salad with roast pumpkin. For dessert we had little chocolate and pecan pies and pavlova cups. Overall it was a fun evening with a variety of acts, good food, and a chance to catch up with friends before Christmas.

Amyl And The Sniffers- Croxton Bandroom

Tonight was the first of two sold out headline shows for Amyl and The Sniffers at the Croxton Bandroom. These shows were delayed a couple times due to lockdowns and restrictions (or "cursed" in the view of lead singer Amy Taylor).

Opening the evening was three piece female rock band Bitch Diesel, who each took turn singing lead vocals. Next up was three piece punk band, CLAMM, who I thought were fantastic from the start to the finish of their set. They had great songs that covered a wide range of societal issues and are definitely worth checking out.

Amyl and The Sniffers came out to big cheers from the crowd and launched their set with "Freaks To The Front." They played many songs off their latest album Comfort To Me, including my favorites "Guided By Angels," "Security," "Knifey," "Hertz" and "Don't Fence Me In." Amy prowled the stage and interacted with the crowd throughout the night and the mosh pit went off, especially to older songs like "I'm Not A Loser" and "Gacked on Anger." The band sounded tight as they tore through their set, and it was a fantastic homecoming show after a tough couple weeks for the band as their overseas tour was impacted by members getting COVID-19.

Here's the video for "Guided By Angels"

Andy White- Brunswick Artists' Bar

Tonight was a bit of a reunion with some of old friends as we gathered at the Brunswick Artists' Bar to see Andy White play and celebrate the release of his new single "Another Sunny Day." Andy played two sets of songs solo on guitar from throughout his career at this intimate show. Highlights for me were the ALT track "Penelope Tree," "If You Want It," "The Guilty and The Innocent," "James Joyce's Grave," and "Groovy Kind Of Way." He also previewed some songs off his new album This Garden Is Only Temporary and songs he wrote during previous lockdowns such as "Stay At Home" and "Isolation."

It was great to catch up with Fran, Lara, Peter and Mark as well as chat with Andy after the show ahead of him heading overseas to tour the UK in January. Andy's new album is due to be released on 28 January 2022.

Belfast

The British Film Festival is currently on and Sally and I met at the Kino Cinema this afternoon to see Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast. Loosely based on his childhood, the black and white film is a coming of age story set in the late 1960s around the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

 

Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his brother and parents (Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe) in a mixed working class neighborhood. Their peaceful existence is shattered when a mob of unionists comes and firebombs the houses of Catholic families on the street. While in the background a barricade goes up and people patrol the local streets, the focus of the story is Buddy and his family as they live through these times and try to determine if they should stay or move to England where there is work. It's more of a sentimental film that skims the surface of the political tensions of the time, but it was entertaining and Jude Hill's performance as Buddy was fantastic.

 

Belfast opens for a broader release in Australia in January 2022.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: The Delta Variant

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

During 2021 Victoria was successful in having a few short(ish), sharp lockdowns for around 7 - 14 days whenever we had COVID-19 outbreaks. These lockdowns worked to get cases back down to zero and allowed things to open up again with minimal restrictions. However, that all changed in June when Sydney had a fast moving outbreak of the Delta variant that ended up with Greater Sydney and other parts of New South Wales going into lockdown for around four months. These cases also spread across borders into other states and territories and even New Zealand, resulting in local lockdowns in those areas.

For Melbourne and Victoria, our luck ran out in August, which unfortunately coincided with me taking a month's annual leave from work. Around a week after our fifth lockdown ended in July, more mystery cases emerged and we went into our sixth lockdown. It was only supposed to last for seven days, but instead went for 77 days as the lockdown restrictions were not working against the Delta variant and cases continued to rise, especially in the north and west of Melbourne (site of our second wave in 2020). Victorian leaders soon realised that pursing COVID zero was no longer an option, so at the start of September they shifted to New South Wales' strategy, which was to keep case numbers under control while we vaccinated our way out of the outbreak. Victoria set its Roadmap to opening in line with the milestones in Australia's National Plan.

Thankfully vaccination rates really picked up (I was fully vaccinated in mid-July) and when we hit 70% of 16+ fully vaccinated on 21 October the lockdown ended in Greater Melbourne. This meant an end to the reasons to leave home and the curfew, being able to have up to 10 people in your home, and the gradual opening up of schools, hospitality and some retail under density limits. Our next milestone of 80% of 16+ fully vaccinated will be hit in the next few days, which is why from 6pm tonight for the long weekend Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria were reunited, retail, gyms, and entertainment venues are back open, masks are no longer required outdoors, and we are operating in a vaccinated economy where you have to show proof of full vaccination to get into places or return to work on site.

After all of our sacrifices it's great to finally get through to the other side and have a bit of hope for the future. We still have around 1,500 new cases a day in Victoria (not ideal), but the curve finally seems to be bending down so those numbers should start dropping. International borders in New South Wales and Victoria will open from 1 November, and we will no longer need permission from the Federal Government to leave the country. Victoria's final milestone is for 90% 12+ fully vaccinated, which we are expected to reach around 24 November. That is when all limits and restrictions should be lifted. Of course, for some other states and territories, their vaccination rates are behind those of us that have had outbreaks and been in lockdown, and as a result they will be slower to open their borders. But thankfully Australia is starting to emerge from its bubble to join the rest of the world again.

Victorian Earthquake

Melbourne is currently in its sixth lockdown, experiencing another day of anti-lockdown protests in the CBD, and this morning we had an earthquake. When are the locusts arriving? The 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit in the Victorian alpine town of Mansfield at 9:15am at a depth of 10km and was felt in multiple states. As the shaking started I thought either we were having an earthquake or my apartment building was collapsing. The shaking went on for 10-15 seconds and I knew it was above a 5 on the Richter scale. Thankfully there was minimal damage throughout the state, with the biggest casualty being the brick facade of a building on Chapel Street in Windsor. But earthquakes, let alone this size, aren't meant to happen here. The largest earthquake I've experienced was the 6.9 magnitude 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area, but this one was equally unnerving as it wasn't expected.

MIFF 2021

Despite all the planning and risk mitigation efforts by the organisers of the Melbourne International Film Festival to have an in-person festival this year, COVID-19 reared its ugly head again and Melbourne went back into its sixth lockdown on 6 August (which also coincided with me taking a month's annual leave from work). While in-cinema screenings scheduled in regional Victoria were able to proceed, Greater Melbourne only had access to the MIFF Play online screenings once again, which contained a portion of the films that were due to be part of this year's program. 

 

Of the seven films I had originally booked only three were available to watch on MIFF Play, along with another film that I was interested in seeing. Once again, my main focus was documentaries:

The Gig Is Up by Shannon Walsh is a documentary that showed the true impact of the gig economy in different countries around the world. It explored not only the tech companies making trillions of dollars off the backs of vulnerable workers, but the true cost of all this convenience, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic started to hit in 2020.

Set! was a fantastic documentary by Scott Gawlik about a group of nine competitive table setters vying for the Best In Show ribbon at the Orange County Fair. They were a bunch of interesting and diverse people, and you learned about their backstories, histories competing against each other, and what drives them to enter these competitions every year.

Moments Like This Never Last is a documentary by Cheryl Dunn about the life of artist Dash Snow, who was an iconic figure of the 2000s New York art scene. Using archival footage from the time period along with present day interviews with his friends and colleagues, you got a very raw portrait of Snow, his short life and the underground art scene of that time.

Palazzo di Cozzo was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing, and thankfully it had its world premiere on 14 August as a special online screening. Franco Cozzo is a well known iconic figure in Melbourne through his baroque furniture stores in Brunswick and Footscray. This documentary by Madeleine Martiniello told the story of his life, from growing up in Sicily to migrating to Australia in the 1950s, and how he worked to build his furniture empire through a combination of entrepreneurial spirit and media charm. It's a fantastic film that also provides the historical and sociological context of the times, particularly for that generation of European migrants, along with some amazing footage of homes completely decorated with his furniture.

 

Fingers crossed that next year I will finally get to enjoy MIFF again in a cinema after two years of watching films online.

Romy Vager and Chloe Alison Escott- Northcote Social Club

I was back at the Northcote Social Club tonight, this time with Belinda, to see a co-headline show with Romy Vager (RVG) and Chloe Alison Escott (The Native Cats) being put on by Chapter Music. We arrived just as Sleeper and Snake (the folk side project of Amy Hill and Al Monfort of Terry) were finishing their set.

Chloe Alison Escott was next up on the stage, and played solo on a keyboard. She did songs off her newest album Stars Under Contract along with some of her favorites that she felt weren’t getting enough plays on streaming services. There was some fun banter with members of the crowd along with several amusing anecdotes throughout the set.

Romy Vager was the final act of the evening, playing solo on electric guitar. She opened with "Vincent Van Gogh" and her set consisted of a mix of unreleased tracks, a few RVG songs, and a cover of a song by The Triffids. The RVG tracks were quite stripped back with "Cause and Effect" (a personal fave of mine and the first time I've heard it live), "Feral Beach" and "Photograph," which was the final song of the night. I always love seeing Romy live and it was a privilege to listen to the reworked arrangements to some of her songs.

Cry Club- God I'm Such A Mess Album Tour

Tonight Ash and I headed to the Northcote Social Club for Cry Club's album launch tour, which had been delayed a month due to lockdown and COVID restrictions. The opening act for the evening was three piece Melbourne pop punk band Baby Shower. Their lead singer was on electric ukulele and the set included their new single "Look At Me I'm An Asshole" and a cover of Delta Goodrem's "Born To Try." Next up was the drag king Jesse Dean, who did lip sync performances to The Killers' "Mr Brightside" and Doja Cat's "Boss Bitch" (complete with an outfit change).

Cry Club hit the stage and launched the evening with a new song (there were several sprinkled throughout the set). However, tonight was a celebration of the duo's excellent debut album God I'm Such A Mess, and we were treated to hearing the album played in full. Highlights for me were "DFTM," "Don't Go," "Lighters," "Quit," "Nine Of Swords," "Robert Smith" and the last song of the night, the album closer "Two Hearts." The band are fantastic live, full of energy, and had everyone dancing and singing along in the crowd for most of the set. Definitely check them out if you get the chance.

 

Here's the video for "Two Hearts"

Farmer's Daughters

Farmer's Daughters is one of the new restaurants in the 80 Collins Precinct that opened earlier this year. Kate, Sally and I have had a couple attempts trying to eat here that were thwarted due to lockdowns, but tonight we finally got into The Restaurant for our Gippsland Getaway set menu dinner for $110 per person.

 

All the dishes in each course were part of a seasonal farm-to-table journey through the Gippsland region of Victoria. Even my cocktail, the Farmer's Collins, contained Gippsland Vermouth, pink grapefruit and elderflower (it's fantastic). The set menu can be tailored to meet different dietary needs, which happened for us having a vegetarian and pescatarian at the table.

The first course was the Lakes Entrance crudo with preserved tomato, Cafresco Organics vegetables and chargrilled O'Connor rip cap on a metal skewer.

Next was my absolute favorite course of the night with the house baked soda bread and cultured cream, and baked Baw Baw Alpine trout with mountain pepper cream and trout caviar. The dark soda bread was so good that we ordered more to eat and then had them chop up a loaf three ways that we could take home. The cream sauce and the trout were also excellent - I would eat that dish any day of the week.

The next two courses were the Sugarloaf cabbage with clam butter and Snowy River Station seagrass, and the Campfire Corner Inlet fish, with Japnut pumpkin and marjoram.

 

Our final main dish was the Terramirra Park venison with baked quince and pine mushrooms, which tasted great.

For dessert we had a little Carob and mandarin pavlova, which was a light dish to finish the menu with. Overall we really enjoyed all the courses of the meal along with the excellent service from the staff as they explained the origins of each dish when they brought it out to us.

Farmer's Daughters is located at 95 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. The Deli on the ground floor is open Tuesdays - Saturdays for lunch and dinner, with The Restaurant on level 1 open for dinner on those days.

Financial New Year's Eve with Karen From Finance

Last night a group of us from work headed to 170 Russell to celebrate Financial New Year’s Eve with Karen From Finance. Having come out of lockdown a few weeks ago there were still some public health directions in place such as wearing masks, social distancing and having bar tables and stools on the dance floor to try to prevent dancing. However, this didn't stop people from having fun just like at a regular drag show.

Each of the performers did two numbers and DJ Argonaut played tracks both before and in between the performance sets. The evening opened with RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season 1 finalist Karen From Finance doing a Dolly Parton medley that included "Jolene" and "9 to 5." Next was Aysha Buffet dressed as a scout with balloons tied to the back of her shorts lip syncing to audio of a scout helping a senior citizen to get a badge that merged into Cardi B's "Up." Then D Flowers came out and did a Britney Spears medley which included "Baby One More Time," "Oops!...I Did It Again," "Stronger" and "Toxic."

During the performance break we all danced together to DJ Argonaut and enjoyed being out in a club and not in lockdown at home. Karen From Finance came out first for the second performance set in her sequin shark outfit from Drag Race and did a number to the Jaws theme and Lady Gaga's "911" (complete with a severed leg). Aysha Buffet was up next with a performance to "Heartbreak Anthem" by Galantis, David Guetta and Little Mix. Then D Flowers finished up the set with a Beyoncé Coachella lip sync featuring "Single Ladies" and "Love On Top."

As we neared midnight all the girls came back onto the stage and counted us down into the new financial year. We were then treated to the debut of Karen From Finance's new single and video for "Out Of Office," which features a lot of her costumes from Drag Race. We all had such a great time and it was almost like we were back in pre-COVID times.

Here's the video for Karen From Finance's debut single "Out Of Office":

RISING- Golden Square and Ancestral Memory

RISING is a new winter arts festival in Melbourne that has taken the place of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and White Night. It has a mix of ticketed and free events around the city. Tonight alongside a total lunar eclipse and rare super blood moon was the opening night. RISING has done a lot to make the festival COVID-safe with many events occurring outdoors, but unfortunately a potential snap lockdown is looming in the next couple days due to a new cluster of cases from a hotel quarantine breach in Adelaide.

 

Ebony and I met up with her friends Jenni and Tony in Chinatown and started our evening at the Golden Square car park. The works at this location were curated by Grace Herbert under the theme Inland Tides. We climbed up to the roof of the car park where we could watch projections on neighboring buildings, and then saw the different works on each level as we walked back down to street level. Some of my favorite pieces were Reko Rennie's short film Initiation OA_RR, Lu Yang's inflated head Power of will - final shooting, and Monira Al Qadiri's floating hamburger The End.

Also part of Golden Square but projected onto a neighboring car park wall was Atong Atem's short film Banksia, which tells the stories of Australia's first African settlers.

After grabbing some dinner in Chinatown we said farewell to Jenni and then headed down to Hamer Hall for the light projection piece Ancestral Memory by Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney. It showed the metaphor of the Spirit Eel, which connects time and place for the peoples of the Kulin Nation.

RISING runs until 6 June 2021.

RONE In Geelong

Ebony and I drove down to Geelong today for the final weekend of the RONE in Geelong exhibition at the Geelong Gallery. This is the first comprehensive showing of RONE's career, fittingly held in his hometown. The exhibition spans from his early stencil work to street art and major installations in abandoned spaces, which feature those haunting portraits of female faces. There are physical samples and photos of his works, along with a few short films showing the creation of different projects and installations.

 

RONE did a few installations within the gallery space itself, two of which were specifically for this exhibition and carried on from the work he did for Empire at Burnham Beeches. Ebony and I were amused to watch people walking around and through the two installations, closely inspecting the aged furniture instead of standing back to see and appreciate the full scale of the work.

The Green Room (Omega Project)

Without Darkness There Is No Light (Dark) (RONE In Geelong)

Without Darkness There Is No Light (Light) (RONE In Geelong)

RONE In Geelong runs until 16 May 2021

Ema

The Chilean film Ema by Pablo Larraín is currently playing as part of the Moro Spanish Film Festival (it also was the closing film of MIFF in 2020). Ash and I headed to the Kino Cinema this evening after dinner to watch it. The film stars Mariana Di Girolamo as Ema, a young dancer and teacher who is married to the director of her contemporary dance company, Gastón (Gael García Bernal). The couple end up bringing their adopted 12-year-old son, Polo, back to the orphanage after he set fire to their house, injuring Ema's sister.

 

This decision impacts the couple's relationship as Ema regrets the decision and goes on a secretive mission to get Polo back. The film is a mix of pyromania as Ema wanders around town with a flamethrower lighting things on fire, contemporary and reggaetón dance sequences with her friends, and romantic affairs with different people. The film is a wild ride and while you may not know what's going on plotwise at some points, it is entertaining.

The Gospel According To Paul

Paul Keating was Prime Minister of Australia and leader of the Labor Party from 1991 to 1996, and is a huge figure in Australian politics. The Gospel According to Paul is a one man show about his life written and performed by actor/comedian Jonathan Biggins. Belinda won tickets, so we attended opening night tonight at the Arts Centre Melbourne Playhouse.

 

Set in a large study, Biggins uses a photo slide show to tell stories about key moments and people throughout Keating's life. The performance got off to a bit of a rough start as the slide carousel wasn't working, but Biggins improvised while the tech crew fixed it. I think to fully appreciate the show you need a strong knowledge of Australian political history and Keating's behavior and personality. For someone not from Australia I didn't know about some of the people and events that were being referenced, which made it a bit hard to follow or understand some of the jokes at points. Biggins does bring some light and shade to his portrayal of Keating and you do learn some things you many not have known about the man.

The Gospel According to Paul runs until 23 May 2021.

Midsumma Festival- Fuck Fabulous

A delayed Midsumma Festival is currently happening around Melbourne, and tonight Ash and I went to the Arts Centre Melbourne Fairfax Studio to see the queer cabaret variety show Fuck Fabulous. Hosted by Yana Alana, this "protest party" featured a range of people in the ensemble, including circus performers (Jess Love, Seth Sladen, Dale Woodbridge-Brown), performance and drag artists (Nicci Wilks, Gabi Barton, Koko Ma$$), and dancers and musicians (Glitter & Snatch, Bec Matthews). 

 

Each artist performed solo and in different group configurations alongside a live band and had multiple chances to shine throughout the evening. There were so many great moments in this show with different acts and skits that were feminist, punk, humorous, acrobatic, honest and full of rage on topics such as politics, women's rights, body inclusivity, identity, climate change and sexual assault. Both Ash and I absolutely loved it and thought it was once of the best things we've seen in a long time. Post show we left the theatre feeling empowered and ready to take on the world.

MICF- Zoe Coombs Marr, Tom Ballard and Nath Valvo

The challenge for the acts at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival seemed to be how to address the coronavirus pandemic in their comedy shows (if at all). Over the past couple weeks Belinda and I have been to see a few of the Melbourne-based comedians at the festival. On 31 March we were at the Melbourne Town Hall for two shows. We started the evening in the Powder Room for Zoe Coombs Marr and her show Agony! Misery! She began by reminding the audience what comedy is and how to laugh through the use of some Wiki How illustrations, and then reflected on her past and key moments from her childhood. Told using slide show pictures and dramatic readings from her diary, we learned a few things about young Zoe, including how through a series of unfortunate events she managed to land the flute solo at band camp when she was 13 years old. It was a silly and fun show which had a fantastic musical ending.

Next we headed upstairs to the Supper Room see Tom Ballard in We Are All In This. Needless to say, if you are a conservative, this is not the show for you. Using PowerPoint slides and some film clips, Tom went through a bit of a 2020 Year in Review covering such cheery topics as the coronavirus pandemic, Liberal Party voters, structural racism and inequality, and climate change. Throughout the show he explored the history of these topics, how we got to where we are now, and expressed the rage we are all feeling living in the world at present with a blistering delivery of biting political humor. No one was spared from Tom's wrath and the audience was laughing and cheering him on all the way through. The show was my highlight of MICF and I definitely recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

Our last show of MICF was tonight at Max Watt's where we saw Nath Valvo in Chatty Cathy. This was the first time I have seen Nath live, and he was full of energy as he wandered around the stage and told stories about his life and how things have changed now that he's in his late thirties. He had observations on how his friends have changed from their partying youth now that they've become parents, his dislike of Airbnbs, fans of true crime stories, and a funny recurring bit where he told mini horror stories he wrote in lockdown under dramatic lighting at the front of the stage. It was a fun and entertaining show.

NGV Triennial 2020

The NGV Triennial 2020 is currently on across all levels of the NGV International in Melbourne. The exhibition features over 100 artists and designers from all over the world showcasing works in contemporary art, design and architecture based around the four themes of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation. 

 

I have been to the NGV twice over the past couple months in order to see the entire exhibition - once on the evening of 11 February for Triennial Extra with Mary and Belinda (the day before we went into a short five-day lockdown) and then again today to see the remaining pieces on Levels 2 and 3. There are so many amazing works, but these were my favorites in the exhibition:

Refik Anadol's Quantum Memories is a giant LED screen with real-time digital animation that is impossible to miss as you walk in on the ground floor. It was mesmerising to stand there and watch the changes to the 3D animations.

 

 

Porky Hefer's Plastocene - Marine Mutants from a Disposable World is a very playful room with these giant handmade creatures on the ground and hanging from the ceiling.

 

 

Outside in the garden are these fantastic large-scale stained glass window portraits by the French paste-up street artist JR for his project Homily to Country about the ecological decline of the Darling River system.

In its own room on the ground floor are the tiny hand-carved wood sculptures of different people by Tomoaki Suzuki. Each figure is scaled down to one third of the model's size.

Up on Level 1 is the architectural installation Botanical Pavilion by Kengo Kuma and Geoff Nees. The wooden pieces interlock and are held together by tension and gravity. It was cool to walk around and through the pavilion to admire this intricate work.

On Level 2 is Carnovsky's immersive wallpaper installation Extinctions, which has different insect and animal species printed on it in red, green or blue ink based on their extinction threat level. When different colored lights are projected on the wallpaper you see different parts of the print. It was quite a clever piece.

The NGV Triennial runs until 18 April 2021.

MICF- So You Think You Can Drag?

After getting cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is back this year with a program primarily made up of Australian acts due to international travel restrictions. After an Earth Hour dinner by candlelight at Mamasita Sean and I headed down to the Forum Melbourne for So You Think You Can Drag? as part of The Festival Club. The show featured a range of drag performances and was hosted by the hilarious Tina Del Twist, who sang, drank and joked her way through the evening. 

 

There were some great numbers throughout the night. Highlights for me were Dazza and Keif dancing to the Beastie Boys “Intergalactic,” Sabrina Baby Slut’s lip sync themed around a girl addicted to air freshener, Lou Wall’s song about the patriarchy dedicated to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Kali Forni-Kate’s bee-themed number complete with a section where she lip synced to an ASMR track. My favorite performance of the evening though was the closing act Ruby Slippers & Egson Ham. They came out in a colorful horse costume to Daryl Braithwaite’s “The Horses” and segued into Cardi B’s “WAP." The performance had elements of dance and burlesque in it and was absolutely brilliant.

French Film Festival 2021

After being interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic last year, the Alliance French Film Festival was able to go ahead in person this year. Once again I bought myself a five film pass and have attended the following films over the past couple weeks:

 

Summer of 85 by François Ozon is an adaptation of Aidan Chambers' novel Dance on My Grave. The story is told in flashbacks about a summer romance between teenagers Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) and David (Benjamin Voisin) and the tragedy that ultimately occurs. While it had a good 1980s soundtrack, the movie was a bit melodramatic and all over the shop.

 

Miss is a feel-good film by Ruben Alves about Alex's (Alexandre Wetter) dream of entering the Miss France beauty pageant and challenging the traditional gender binary. It's a heart warming film about chosen families supporting each other and a bit of a satire on the televised elements of beauty pageants.

 

De Gaulle is a biopic by Gabriel Le Bomin focused on General Charles de Gaulle (Lambert Wilson) during World War II as he met with Winston Churchill after Hitler seized Paris and led the French resistance. While de Gaulle is in exile the film also follows his wife (Isabelle Carré) and children as they travel around France trying to stay ahead of the German armed forces. It is a gripping war drama that covers some key moments for France in during World War II.

 

Eiffel is a biopic about Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) and what inspired him to design and build the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. The film shows the issues Eiffel dealt with during the building of the tower, including engineering innovations, protests and financial challenges.

 

Delicious is a historical comedy by Eric Besnard set in 1789 France prior to the French Revolution. Manceron (Grégory Gadebois) is a cook for the Duke of Chamfort, but gets fired when he cooks an inventive dish that is criticized by the Duke's guests. He goes to stay in a regional inn, where he takes on a female apprentice (Isabelle Carré) and ends up creating France's first restaurant to feed travellers coming through the area.

The Alliance French Film Festival runs in Melbourne until 31 March 2021.

Brunswick Music Festival- Joelistics and Loretta & Her Boyfriends

It was around this time last year that the coronavirus pandemic started to hit Australia and a number of shows at the Brunswick Music Festival were cancelled. Thankfully this year the festival has been able to go ahead despite a short five-day lockdown in Melbourne in mid-February. 

 

On Saturday night I met up with Belinda at Howler to see the sold out Joelistics Presents Film School album launch. As with other recent gigs we sat in chairs set up on the floor of the bandroom. The opening acts were DJ Paso Bionic and Beatrice (Haiku Hands/Kardajala Kirridarra), who did a set of ethereal sounding electronic music along with some great visuals behind her. When Joel came out on stage he told us to sit back and relax into the show, which was a collaboration with other musicians and artists. The members of the band jammed and improvised with each other as film clips played behind them and contemporary dancers performed on the floor and stage. It was a really interesting and special show and we both felt it was almost something you would expect to see at the Arts Centre.

Tonight Ash and I headed to the recently opened Brunswick Artists' Bar (downstairs from the Brunswick Ballroom) on Sydney Road to see Loretta & Her Boyfriends. We managed to grab a couple chairs to cram into the small, intimate space. Loretta Miller (Jazz Party) and her bandmates played two sets of songs from some of her favorite female jazz and blues singers, including Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughan, Julia Lee and Patsy Cline. They appropriately finished the evening with the song "Last Call (For Alcohol)." It was an entertaining night and nice to be able to check out the renovations to the venue.

Promising Young Woman

Tonight I met up with Ebony at the newly opened Palace Pentridge Cinema in Coburg to see Promising Young Woman. Each cinema has large leather reclining seats, which countered having to wear a mask throughout. This film by Emerald Fennell stars Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas, a 30-year-old woman who is a one woman vigilante going after guys who prey on intoxicated women. As the movie progresses it is revealed Cassie is trying to exact revenge for the death of her college friend Nina as she tracks down the key players in what happened to her and the aftermath. The film is pretty full on at times but really well done, and it goes to show that you never can tell who is a "nice guy," especially in this era of #MeToo.

Bar Texaco

Bar Texaco is a relatively new pop-up restaurant on Sydney Road in Brunswick that serves a combination of Texas-style barbecue and Tex-Mex dishes on its menu. My friend Kate and I have been a couple of times for lunch to sample dishes from the different parts of the menu. 

 

On the barbecue side I had the Brisket Bun, which includes smoked brisket slices, pickles and secret BBQ sauce on a toasted bun. For sides we shared the fries, classic mac n cheese, and chargrilled pumpkin with puffed wild rice, pepitas, fajita seasoning and vegan yoghurt avocado dressing. The smoked brisket was amazing, as was the chargilled pumpkin the first time we had it. The fries are what you would expect, and even though we shared the mac n cheese it was quite filling.

 

 

On the Tex-Mex side of the menu, we had the corn chips and guacamole and got the combo of any three tacos for $18. I had the pork and pineapple taco (juicy pork, pineapple and Mexican salsa), beef taco (pulled brisket, refried white beans, Mexican salsa and chilli oil) and Baja fish taco (battered fish, pickled cabbage and chipotle mayo). Once again it was those barbecue flavors in the meats that really stood out.

 

Bar Texaco is located at 644 Sydney Road, Brunswick and is open for dinner Wednesday - Saturday and for lunch on Sundays.

RVG- Malthouse Outdoor Stage

The Malthouse Outdoor Stage is hosting a number of COVID Safe shows this summer as live music returns to Melbourne. Belinda and I headed there this afternoon for the 5:30pm early show for RVG. I must admit it was a bit odd to be sitting at a table watching them play in the sunshine. They opened with "Alexandra" and included a number of songs off their latest album Feral in the set, including "Little Sharkie & The White Pointer Sisters," "Help Somebody," "Christian Neurosurgeon" and "I Used To Love You." Other highlights were "IBM," "Vincent Van Gogh," "A Quality Of Mercy," "That's All" and the set closer "Feral Beach." RVG is such a force of a band to watch live and today's show was no different. It was good to finally get to hear the tracks off Feral live now that they can play shows again.

 

Here's the video for "I Used To Love You"

The Living End- Sounds Better Together

The coronavirus pandemic has been catastrophic for the live music industry, with many music venues the first to close and the last to be able to reopen. The Mushroom Group and Victorian Government have partnered for a series of COVID Safe concerts across the state under the banner of Sounds Better Together. Tonight's show that I attended, which only went on sale last week, was The Living End at Forum Melbourne.

It was a bit strange to have seats on the floor of the Forum, but groups of ticket holders were safely spaced from each other. Opening the night was four piece Melbourne punk band Bakers Eddy. They played a very energetic set, with the lead singer taking out his microphone with his guitar during one song. They had people standing up out of their seats by the end of their set.

The Living End tried to begin the evening with "Pictures In The Mirror" but had two false starts as Scott Owen's bass wasn't working. Third time was a charm though and there was some relief from the band when they got through the whole song. The set list covered songs from throughout their extensive catalogue, with old favorites like "Second Solution," "Roll On," "Prisoner Of Society," "All Torn Down" and "White Noise" alongside some deeper album cuts such as "'Til The End," "Bloody Mary," "Hold Up," and "From Here On In." 

 

They also played a couple songs off their latest album Wunderbar with "Wake Up The Vampires" and "Drop The Needle." There was a lot of singing and dancing in the crowd, especially once everyone was standing up about a third of the way through the set. For the encore they played a rousing rendition of "Uncle Harry" to finish the evening. It was a great show full of energy and the usual musical prowess of this fantastic live band. I think everyone leaving the Forum felt their spirits lifted post-lockdown and that our city is coming back to life.

Here's the video for "Otherside"