People Of Letters

The literary salon Women Of Letters holds events each month in Melbourne at The Thornbury Theatre to celebrate the lost art of letter-writing with people from different fields. Occasionally they invite men along to participate in either Men Of Letters or like this afternoon, People Of Letters events. Hosted by Angie Hart, today we had pairs of people (friends, siblings, partners) who wrote and read letters to each other.

The afternoon started with comedian Joel Creasey and television and radio personality Chrissie Swan talking about their friendship, where we learned the phrase "bitch cheese." Next up were the most moving letters of the afternoon from co-directors of Chapter Music and life partners Guy Blackman and Ben O'Connor, who talked about their lives together and love for each other. Then we heard from life long friends musician Clare Bowditch and actress Defah Dattner, who have been there for each other through many key life stages.

After an intermission the next three pairs took to the stage. Siblings and writers Benjamin Law and Michelle Law spoke about growing up together and what they meant to each other. Former WA Senator and Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens Scott Ludlam and his friend and Communications Advisor David Paris talked about life in politics and wishing they had looked into Scott's citizenship before he first took office nearly ten years ago. The final pairing was musician Paulie Stewart and his mentee, rapper Fablice Manirakiza (aka FLYBZ) who was a former child soldier in Burundi and refugee who arrived in Australia in 2007. They ended the event by getting everyone up out of their seats to dance along as Fablice rapped a song. Overall it was a moving and inspiring afternoon about the importance of relationships and bonds between people.

Concert For The Kimberley

This evening Tash and I met up at Fed Square for the free Concert for the Kimberley.  This event was held to help raise awareness about the battle to save the Kimberley region in Western Australia from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant being built on the coast at James Price Point/Walmadan north of Broome.  It is a fight to save the unique and pristine environment in the Kimberley as well as Aboriginal access to their traditional land.

Former leader of the Australian Greens Bob Brown opened the event with a speech, and night alternated between musical acts, speakers and video presentations explaining what is going on in the Kimberley and how people are fighting against the fossil fuel industry and the development of this gas hub that would be the size of 25 Melbourne CBDs.

Clare Bowditch played two mini sets featuring older songs and ones off her new album The Winter I Chose Happiness, including "You Make Me Happy" which she did on the tv show Offspring.  Next up was Albert Wiggan, a local resident who featured in one of the videos speaking about the importance of the land and country to himself and his family.  He sang two very powerful songs that he wrote, including one titled "Dear Prime Minister."

The final act of the evening and the main reason for the packed out Fed Square was John Butler Trio.  It's hard to believe but this was the first time I have seen them live, and they put on a fantastic hour and a half set.  John was constantly changing guitars throughout the night and it was amazing to watch him play.  We got to hear favorites like "Zebra," "Revolution," "Don't Wanna See Your Face," "Better Than" and "Funky Tonight," as well as a song written about why we were there tonight, "Kimberley."  All in all it was a great evening, and certainly educated me about something I wasn't even aware was happening in Australia.

Here are some highlights from the event:

They Will Have Their Way: The Songs of Tim and Neil Finn

Tonight Tash, Mary and I met up in St Kilda for the They Will Have Their Way tribute concert featuring the songs of Tim and Neil Finn.  After a quick dinner at Grill'd we headed over to the Palais Theatre and took our seats in the orchestra section.  The performers on this tour all feature on the newly repackaged They Will Have Their Way album: Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby, and Sally Seltmann (solo and as Seeker Lover Keeper), Paul Dempsey, Clare Bowditch, Lior, and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy).  Each artist played several songs either by themselves or with others.  There was also a backing band to round out the sound of the songs, which spanned all eras of Tim and Neil's careers: Split Enz, Crowded House, Finn Brothers, and solo.  

There were so many great versions of the songs, but my favorites were Clare, Sarah, Holly and Sally doing "Fall At Your Feet," Lior's "Into Temptation," Sarah's "My Mistake," Paul's "Message To My Girl," Seeker Lover Keeper's "Sinner," Paul and Clare's "Turn and Run" (the one song I was hoping would get played), and Alex's "Now We're Getting Somewhere."  I felt the crowd was subdued and a bit dull since they wouldn't really sing along or interact.  Clare and Alex were the funny ones on the night and had us laughing a lot.  The encore saw all the artists come onto the stage to finish with "It's Only Natural" and "Weather With You."  All in all it was a great show with some interesting interpretations of the Finns' amazing songs.

Evening Adventures

My cousin Missy has come to stay with me for a week, so we have been out having fun around town. On Tuesday night we headed down to the Corner Hotel in Richmond to see Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set in concert. The first opening act was Whitley who was drunk or on something because he didn't make much sense when talking. We thought shoegazer music was over, but he is bringing it back. He even did an emo version of Bjork's "Hyper-Ballad." The real stars of the night were Little Red, who played a very energetic set on the smaller second stage, including my favorite song of theirs, "Misty I." Missy was impressed and deemed them a band to watch. We stayed for most of Clare Bowditch's set but left around 11 pm as it was hot in the venue and we were both tired.

On Wednesday we were joined by Belinda and went to the Night Market at the Queen Victoria Market. It was another hot evening, but we checked out all the various booths and sampled the food. We had gozleme first and then the honey dumplings with chocolate and ice cream. While wandering around we even ran into Michelle and Ruth.

Tonight Missy met me at work and we headed across the road to The Commune for dinner and jazz, which is a regular Thursday night event. Mel had reserved a table, and it was good to see both Carlene, who is teaching at the Victorian International School of Sharjah, and Marg, who is doing teacher coaching at schools in New York. They were both back in Melbourne for the holidays. The jazz music was good (they played some Jobim) and my dish of pad thai was yummy. Missy and I had a delay of 20 minutes at the train station because of all the thunderstorms, but we managed to make it home safe and dry.