Avenue Q

Tonight I met up with Ruth and Danny to see the Tony Award winning musical Avenue Q, which is opening in Australia for the first time. It is sort of a dirty version of Sesame Street with its mix of puppets and live actors. Here is the synopsis of the play:

AVENUE Q is the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. He soon discovers that the only neighborhood in his price range is Avenue Q; still, the neighbors seem nice. There's Brian the out-of-work comedian and his therapist fiancée Christmas Eve; Nicky the good-hearted slacker and his roommate Rod -- a Republican investment banker who seems to have some sort of secret; an internet addict called Trekkie Monster; and a very cute kindergarten teaching assistant named Kate Monster. And would you believe the building's superintendent is Gary Coleman?!? (Yes, that Gary Coleman.) Their lives also intermingle with renowned nightclub singer, Lucy T Slut, and school principal, Mrs. Thistletwat. Together, Princeton and his new found friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life.

The play was very funny with its assorted songs such as "Sucks to be Me," "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," and "The Internet is for Porn." The two leads Mitchell Butel and Michala Banas were fantastic and I was amazed they managed to play multiple puppets and voices at the same time. I thought I would end up focusing more on the actors than the puppets, but that wasn't the case. If you have a chance I highly recommend you check out Avenue Q- you won't be disappointed.

Yves Klein Blue

Tonight I met up with Tash and her work colleague Daniel at The Toff in Town for an album preview gig by Brisbane band Yves Klein Blue. It has been over a year since I last saw them play and it's exciting that they finally have a debut album coming out after the success of their EP "Draw Attention to Themselves." The majority of the set contained songs from the upcoming album, including their new single "Getting Wise," as well as some old favorites like "Silence is Distance" and "Polka." The highlight of the evening was when frontman Michael Tomlinson played one of the new songs on acoustic guitar in the middle of the crowd. All in all it was a good although short show since there were no opening acts. Spotted in the audience were Alex and Thom from Oh Mercy and the red Wiggle, Murray Cook!

Ground Components

Tonight I met Tash and her friend Nikki at the East Brunswick Club for a headlining show by Ground Components. The first band up for the evening was Shaman Son, whose sound I found to be a cross between wanna be grunge and a bad LA rock band. There were flannel shirts, scarves hanging off of instruments, and a lead singer way too interested in pushing buttons to get different vocal effects. Loud and unimaginative.

Next on stage were my favorites The Harpoons. There was a 20 minute delay to the start of their set because their drummer was M.I.A. However, he eventually showed up at the end of the first song. Their harmonies were just so fantastic and they played some new songs as well as "Faith," "Everywhere," and had everyone up the front dancing for their last song "Garden City." Unfortunately the set was 10 minutes shorter than scheduled, and I still have not managed to get a copy of their Demo CD.

It was good to see Ground Components again after watching them support Little Red last week (and all the Little Red boys were in the audience to return the favor). They played a very energetic set and highlights included "Our Sunshine" and "On Your Living Room Floor." It's really hard to describe their sound since it is such a mix of styles. I give them credit though for sounding like no one else currently out there at the moment. All in all it was a pretty good night.

Little Red

Last night Belinda and I headed to the Hi-Fi Bar on Swanston Street to see the triumphant return of Little Red to the live music scene in Melbourne. It has been months since I saw them play and this mini-tour was done as a last taste before the boys head off into the studio to record their second album.

The show opened with the Young Lovers, a new wave sounding band with some good and uplifting tunes. Next was Ground Components, a solid band with interesting songs. Their guitarist played the show from a lounge chair since he broke his foot the night before but that didn't bring down the energy level of the other band members. The lead singer's voice is a bit rough, but the group is a very talented bunch of musicians.

Little Red came onto the stage to huge cheers from the sold-out crowd. They played songs from their previous releases as well as some new ones. The audience was singing along in full voice for most of the night, with "Little Annie" and "Jackie Cooper" getting big responses. I was happy as always to hear "Misty, I" and "Lazy Boy." The newest songs sounded really good and showed a lot of growth in the band's sound. Members of Ground Components came out on stage to play along to the last song of the main set "It's Alright." For the encore they played "Cry Cry" and finished the night with "Coca Cola." It was a fantastic show and confirmation of what a great live band Little Red have become.

MICF: Dave Hughes Is Handy

Tonight was the last of my comedy festival shows- Dave Hughes Is Handy. Hughesy is one of the top stand up comedians in Australia and I was thrilled to finally get to see him live. Belinda joined me for his hour plus set and our faces hurt at the end from laughing so much. He covered a lot of local news topics and interacted with the crowd. Overall it was a hilarious night and we definitely got our money's worth.

Here is Hughesy's set from the Comedy Festival Gala this year:

MICF: Lawrence Leung & Andrew McClelland- Time Ninjas

Tonight I organized a group from work to attend Lawrence Leung & Andrew McClelland- Time Ninjas at the comedy festival. This was the first time I had seen either of them perform although they have done solo shows in previous years. The show had singing, dancing, history, props, videos and time travel. At the start of the evening they invited an audience member up onto the stage to play the role of Anne Boleyn. Unfortunately, they accidentally chopped off her head. Luckily though their future selves have built a time machine with Stephen Hawking's wheelchair, so Lawrence and Andy decide to travel back in time to save their audience member's life. Along the way they meet Jesus, Hitler's mother, and the teenage versions of themselves.

I thought the show was good but not as hilarious as I was expecting, although there were consistent laughs throughout the night. Lawrence and Andy have known each other since kindergarten and as a result they have great chemistry on stage and occasionally would break out of character and improvise a bit. You could tell they were having a lot of fun, although I would like to see them perform a tighter show next time.

The Basics: Golden Sextants Tour

Tonight Mel and I met up for dinner and then headed over to the St. Martins Youth Arts Centre Randall Theatre in South Yarra to see The Basics. This show was a multimedia extravaganza with live music, video and audio clips to preview their upcoming album "Keep Your Friends Close..." There was also a lot of storytelling about the origins of the songs and some funny stories and videos from being on tour. I don't think I have laughed so much in a long time- the boys were hilarious throughout the night. We got to watch music videos for the latest single "With This Ship" as well as "Like a Brother." Another highlight was Kris singing a heartbreaking version of "All or Nothing" solo on the acoustic guitar. It was great to hear those harmonies again especially in a quiet theatre. The boys say they have recorded about 30 songs so it will be interesting to see what makes it onto the album. I can't wait for it to finally be released as they've been working on it for a couple of years now.

MICF: Tim Minchin- Ready for This?

Tonight Tash and I met up at The Forum for Tim Minchin's latest comedy festival show "Ready for This?" Tim made a grand entrance complete with smoke and a fan as he questioned who needs a band. The show itself had more monologue than songs, and covered topics such as American culture, religion and other belief systems, taboo words and science. Tim had a special song for a UK reviewer who gave him a bad review three years ago and did a nine minute beat poem about a hippy at a dinner party. He also has a new anthem about the plight of dancing bears complete with a break-dancing bear. Overall it was a good show and Tim was his rocking self.

Here is a song he wrote for his wife "If I Didn't Have You."

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! It's the annual four day weekend here in Australia as Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. Today I got invited over to Danny and Ruth's for hot cross buns and an Easter egg hunt. Hot cross buns are big business here in Australia and we had some very yummy ones from the Flour Mill on Sydney Road. I am having a quiet weekend and enjoying relaxing while trying not to eat too much chocolate.

C.W. Stoneking

Tonight I met Tash at Melbourne Zoo for the Earth Hour concert with C.W. Stoneking. She had won a double pass and kindly allowed me to come along with her. It's always a relaxed and family friendly setting at the zoo and the only gig where you get to hear lions roaring occasionally while musicians are playing. We found a spot on the lawn near the pavilion and listened to the opening act, New York blues singer Mamie Minch.

As darkness descended C.W. Stoneking and the Primitive Horn Orchestra took to the stage. He is a very unique artist and storyteller with a New Orleans jazz and blues sound. His accent is a strange mix of Aussie and Cajun. C.W. played songs from both of his albums and it was great to hear "Brave Son of America" (about General MacArthur), "Goin the Country," and "Talking Lion Blues." He brought out his wife to sing "Housebound Blues" and finished the night with the fantastic "The Love Me or Die."

Sound Relief

I knew it would be a wet day when the sky went black at 10:30 am and the heavens opened up. Thankfully I had a poncho which was the fashion choice of the day amongst the crowd at the Sound Relief Bushfire benefit concert at the MCG yesterday. I arrived as Jet was midway through their set. Once they finished Tash and I located each other in the front arena section as we waited for Melbourne teen Gabriella Cilmi to start. She sang her hit "Sweet About Me" as well as a cover of "Whole Lotta Love." Next on the bill was the first big act of the day, Kings of Leon. The crowd noticeably swelled just as the rain began to fall. Due to the fact they were playing a show later on that evening, they had a short set of four songs and didn't play their biggest here "Sex on Fire" which led to some mumbling in the crowd after they finished.

Next was Melbourne's own songwriting legend Paul Kelly. There were big crowd sing alongs for "Dumb Things," "To Her Door," and the song that mentions the MCG "Leaps and Bounds." Augie March's set started off a bit slow, but picked up at the end with the barnstormer "This Train will be Taking no Passengers" and their bit hit "One Crowded Hour." As the dark clouds came over the arena Tash and I decided to take a food break during Bliss N Eso which was smart because a torrential downpour happened while we were undercover and the stage lost power for a bit. However the rain eased up and the boys were joined by Paris Wells for a song at the end of their energetic hip-hop set.

During breaks between acts we were shown video from the artists performing at the Sydney concert. We got to see snippets from Coldplay (including their collaboration with John Farnham on "You're the Voice"), Hoodoo Gurus, Little Birdy, Josh Pyke, Eskimo Joe, Architecture in Helsinki, You Am I, Icehouse, and The Presets. There were also videos in tribute to the CFA firefighters and of the devastation from the bushfires.

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson performed a similar set to the one we saw at Homebake and had Troy Cassar-Daley join them for "The House that Never Was." Then is was time for Liam Finn and friends. Liam and EJ Barnes came out and performed "Second Chance" and "Lead Balloon" before calling out the family band- Elroy Finn, Unkle Nick (Seymour) and N-Dog (Neil Finn) for some songs. When "Don't Dream It's Over" started the crowd erupted in cheers and quickly filled the arena for a big sing along. Tim Finn came out to sing "Weather With You" and then Neil finished up with a song dedicated to the firefighters "Better Be Home Soon." It was one of the highlights of the day.

The crowd stuck around for a mellow set by Jack Johnson during which we watched the dark clouds start to come over the stadium again. After he finished the downpour began with much colder rain this time. It continued as Wolfmother took to the stage in front of an excited crowd. I found the set a bit uninspired as Andrew Stockdale is playing the exact same songs from 3 1/2 years ago except with all new band members. I was expecting at least some new material out of them. When they finished there was a joint live feed with the Sydney concert where a video message from Princes William and Harry was aired and a minute of silence held for the victims. Kylie Minogue then appeared on the Melbourne stage and lead everyone in singing "I Still Call Australia Home."

Next it was time for the first big reunion of the night, Hunters & Collectors, who hadn't played together in 11 years. They started their set with "When the River Runs Dry," and played their hits "Do You See What I See?", "Holy Grail," and "Throw Your Arms Around Me" among others. They finished with an encore of one of their earliest songs "The Slab." After the Finn family set in the afternoon Neil and Tim were back on stage with Split Enz. Opening with "Shark Attack" the highlights of the set were "I Got You," "Six Months in a Leaky Boat," "History Never Repeats," and "I See Red."

The final and most anticipated act of the evening was a reunited Midnight Oil featuring current Federal Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett. They began with "Redneck Wonderland" and played their hits "Dreamworld," "Blue Sky Mine," "Beds are Burning," "One Country," "King of the Mountain," "The Dead Heart," "The Power and the Passion," and finished up with "Sometimes." It was an amazing and powerful set to top off a fantastic day of music (despite the weather) and I was proud to be part of the historic 80,000 crowd there at the MCG.

Poor Boy

Tonight I met up with Tash and her roommate Jennifer at the new Melbourne Theatre Company Sumner Theatre for the play Poor Boy starring Guy Pearce. It was written by Matt Cameron and incorporates the music of Tim Finn throughout. The plot of the play is as follows:

Jeremy Glass is an untroubled little boy until his seventh birthday, when he suddenly announces that he is really a grown man called Danny, who died some years before. How can his parents indulge his conviction that he must find his real family? And how can his eerie insistence on his true identity not resurrect painful memories for Danny’s widow?

The new theatre is gorgeous and we had excellent seats in the second row to the right of the stage. The plot of the story took a bit of time to understand, but it ended up making sense by the end. The actors were all great and made the switches between dialogue and song easily. They had a live band hidden in the set on the stage and it was good to hear such a wide variety of Tim's songs used, especially Split Enz's "Walking Through The Ruins." Our other excitement of the night was spotting Ashley Zukerman from the tv show Rush in the audience. Poor Boy is finishing up its run in Melbourne this week and then heads up to Sydney later in the year.

End of Fashion, Oh Mercy, and The Greasers

Last night Tash and I met up at the East Brunswick Club for a great night of bands. The evening started off with The Greasers who I haven't seen for a while. Dom and the boys played a good set despite a couple issues with the guitar lead. I was happy to hear "Metamorphosis" and "No Love Left" again live. Next up was Oh Mercy who played a very tight set without a lot of banter between songs this time. "Salvation Jane" and "In My Stride" were highlights and it's good to see them getting support slots on national tours.

The headline act of the evening was Perth band End of Fashion. They played a very strong set and sounded fantastic. You would have never guessed that lead singer Justin had laryngitis a week ago. It was a bit of a surprise that the venue was only about half full for them but the fans that were there were very enthusiastic. They played hits off both their albums and it was good to hear "Fussy" although I missed the horns. The night ended with "The Game" and then it was off for home.

Corner Bushfire Benefit

After wasting some time in the city I headed to Richmond to meet Tash and Mary at the Corner Hotel for the Corner Bushfire Benefit. As you probably know, Victoria suffered through severe bushfires a few weeks ago which left over 200 people dead and countless others homeless as some towns were burnt to the ground. Many venues throughout Melbourne were holding benefit concerts tonight with proceeds going to the Red Cross. The first act of the evening was Hot Little Hands. Their set was ok and they did a good cover of "Rip It Up."

Next on the bill was The Basics, the main reason we attended the show. It was their first live gig in three months as Kris has been overseas. They didn't sound too rusty as they played a few newly written songs as well as "Just Hold On," "Money (Gimme, Gimme)," "Like A Brother," and their new single "With This Ship." It was great to see them again and hear those sweet harmonies. We are eager for the new album to come out but it appears that they are still recording some more songs. When they finished their set Tash and Mary went over to Wally for a chat and to get pictures with him. I was good and refrained.

After a comical welcome to the evening and explanation of the auction items by Julia Zemiro of RocKwiz fame, The Pictures took to the stage. Lead by Davey Lane of You Am I, there set was full of classic Aussie rock sounding songs. I thought they played great and were very entertaining. After they were done we went upstairs to the rooftop to have some food, and then decided to head for home since we weren't that interested in the rest of the bands on the bill. Hopefully the evening raised a lot of money to help those affected by the bushfires.

Sydney Road Street Party

It's time once again for the Sydney Road Street Party. I met Michelle and Ruth at noon and we had a wander up and down the street. There seemed to be less people and booths this year (maybe because of the cooler weather). It was also disappointing that there was no fashion show by the local shop owners and the Muslim Women's Association wasn't cooking any gozleme this year. It's the one reason why I attend the Street Party every year!

However the afternoon was not a complete loss. Ruth came along with mystery envelopes to play her own version of The Amazing Race- The Amazing Ruth. The first envelope involved tasks at the Street Party, and then we had to go to Bridie O'Reilly's for a drink. The next clue told her to travel into the city and go to Shanghai Dumplings in Chinatown. Since I had to go into the city later on I just tagged along. We met the man in the fluorescent vest for her next clue- which was a roadblock task of matching places to things that she had done there while in her relationship with Danny. It was then that I realized what was really going on. When Ruth successfully completed her roadblock she was handed her final clue, where she had to head to the pit stop at the Rialto. We said goodbye and heard later that she said yes!

The Harpoons

After a yummy dinner at Mexicali Rose with Mel, we walked down to the Great Britain Hotel where we were joined by Tash for the 7" single launch by The Harpoons. The last time I saw them was in August so I was curious to see how the band has developed since that early show. The evening began with a short set of surf music by TAN, which is basically The Harpoons without Bec (although she did join them for a couple songs). They had the crowd dancing away, especially to "Wipe Out."

After a break, The Harpoons officially started their set in front of an enthusiastic crowd. They are so much more confident on stage now and the harmonies were just fantastic. Bec's voice was soaring throughout the night. They played some newer songs as well as what's on their Myspace page including "Swim My Baby," "Hey Girl," "Garden City," and the songs on their 7" record "Faith" and "Tonight Tonight." It was such a great set and nice to see so many people discovering and falling in love with them. Tash and I will be back at another show soon if only to get a chance to buy their demo CD.

Tim Finn

Tonight I met up with Fran and Rosemaree to see Tim Finn play at the Northcote Social Club. It was a laid back show with Tim on acoustic guitar and piano and Brett Adams on electric guitar. They also had a viola player in the mix for a few songs. The set list covered every aspect of Tim's career from Split Enz to Crowded House to his solo albums. It was great to hear rare tracks like "Ghost Girl" and "Parihaka" live. The big surprise of the evening was when Tim brought Andy White up on stage and they played the song they wrote together in ALT "Many's The Time." For "The Saw and the Tree" and "Charlie" the viola player switched to playing a saw, which added a lot of atmosphere to the songs. Tim also changed up the arrangements for "Poor Boy" and "I See Red." The big crowd sing-a-long took place on "Weather With You" which included a few verses of "Fraction Too Much Friction." It was great to see Tim in an intimate venue with a sold out crowd cheering him on every step of the way.

Farewell Late Night with Conan O'Brien

On Friday the sixteen glorious years of Late Night with Conan O'Brien came to an end. I remember watching the first episode of Late Night in September 1993 and seeing this unknown and nervous pale, red-headed Irish Catholic host who was taking over from David Letterman. Conan and sidekick Andy Richter had a very rough first year but the comedy was always brave, intelligent and inspired. They took chances and even though not everything hit the mark you had to admire their originality.

The last couple weeks have been filled with highlights from throughout the years. The final show included some great old clips (yay for the snippet of Ken Burns' Conan) and Andy stopped by one last time. Will Ferrell made an appearance as George W. Bush and The White Stripes played a lovely version of "We're Going To Be Friends." The show ended with Conan giving an emotional and heartfelt thanks to everyone who worked on the show, helped his career, and his friends, family and fans. He did good to hold it together for the most part.

Throughout the years my favorite bits on Late Night have always been the remote segments as it's where Conan really shines. One of my favorite remote pieces was the 1864 Old Time Baseball:


Conan was recently a guest on Inside the Actor's Studio and gave a very insightful and funny interview to James Lipton, who was a frequent visitor to Late Night over the past few years. You can watch it here. It will be interesting to see how Conan goes as host of The Tonight Show, but I have great faith that he will succeed at the 11:30 pm hour.

Trivia Night for Make Poverty History

Tonight after work I joined Marnie and her friends for a night of trivia at the Trades Hall in Carlton. It was a benefit for the 2009 Make Poverty History Internship Program. After a short introduction and film clip our evening of trivia began. There were three rounds of questions- two were general trivia and one was music. There were also two silent rounds where you had to match a person or character to a quote, and music graphs where you had to figure out the song and artist. Our team was behind by a couple points after two rounds, but we triumphed and took the whole thing by the end of the night. We divided up the great prizes for first place amongst our group and I came away with a gift certificate for a 60 minute organic facial at endota spa in the city. It was a fun night for a good cause.

Oh Mercy and The Frowning Clouds

Tonight Tash and I headed up to the Northcote Social Club for the second week of Oh Mercy's residency. After we finished our dinner we headed inside the band room for the second opening act of the evening, The Frowning Clouds. This young band from Geelong is one that I have been wanting to see live for a while now. They played their own songs, which are inspired by early 60's garage rock, and a couple covers as well. They had the whole look down- shaggy hair, skinny pants, ankle boots. Thankfully they also have the musical talent to not just be an early Rolling Stones rip-off. Definitely a band to watch.

It was great to see Oh Mercy again as it had been a while since I last saw them play. They have a new drummer who just joined the band recently. Most of the songs were new ones, a few I recognized from previous gigs, and they played my favorites "Salvation Jane" and "Seemed Like A Good Idea." Eliza was having trouble with her bass lead and Alex was having issues tuning his guitar but overall it was an entertaining set. Alex is such a great storyteller that I could listen to him sing all night. I am eagerly awaiting the appearance of their debut album (whenever it may be released). I also must commend the band for actually finishing at a decent hour, i.e. while the trams are still running.