Seeker Lover Keeper

Tonight Tash and I ventured to the Thornbury Theatre to see Seeker Lover Keeper, the new band project of Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby.  We had a good view of the stage from the balcony, as the floor area was full of tables and chairs for those who had dinner and show tickets.

Seagull opened up the evening with a half hour set.  He played electric guitar and was accompanied by a female keyboardist.  I wasn't sure how well he'd go down with the crowd, and people started talking after a couple songs.  However it was good to hear older tracks such as "Dust Storm" and "Train Tracks," and he finished with "Company" off his Council Tree album.

Seeker Lover Keeper came out and began with "Bring Me Back" before bringing out their two male touring band members on drums and bass.  This project has Sarah, Sally and Holly singing lead on songs that each other have written.  They played the entire Seeker Lover Keeper album and highlights for me included "Even Though I'm A Woman," "Light All My Lights," "We Will Know What It Is," and the moving "If The Night Is Dark."  Their harmonies were amazing and the musicianship great to watch as they switched off on piano and guitar.  For the encore they came out and did covers of each other's solo material, including Sarah's "We Won't Run," and finished off the night with a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Wild Heart."

Here's the video for "Even Though I'm A Woman"

Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow

When Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) announced their tour together, Tash suggested we make a weekend of it and see them play in Castlemaine as she wanted to check out the Theatre Royal.  Yesterday Mary and I drove to Ballarat to meet up with Tash and Michelle for lunch at a pub (also so Tash could watch the footy).  It was good to briefly catch up with Michelle before she had to head down to Melbourne for a family dinner.  After the footy match was finished we headed back to Tash's place where her work colleague Michelle met us and then we hit the road for Castlemaine.

Central Victoria is a bit of a foodie hotbed and we had a fantastic dinner at the Public Inn.  They serve wine directly from the barrel and I had a delicious and filling potato gnocchi.  After eating we headed to the Theatre Royal for the gig, and were let into the venue once the dining service was done for those who had tickets for dinner and the show.  Both Dan and Alexander came out on stage at the start and played three songs together, including Icehouse's "Great Southern Land" and the Oh Mercy track "Keith St."

Dan left the stage and Alexander played his solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar.  He started with "On The Run" and we got a mix of tracks from both albums: "Mercy Valley," "Hold Out Your Hand," "Blue Lagoon," "Lay Everything On Me," "Get You Back" and "Stay Please Stay." We were lucky enough to hear three new songs titled "My Man," "Europa" and "Lady Eucalyptus," as well as a few covers.  Alexander was funny and charming throughout his set despite some rude, noisy people at the bar.  He was also loving his eye drops, applying them a few times during the evening.  He closed his set with Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" so that he, like Dan, would have a song about cars in his set (although he didn't understand the first two verses of the song).

After an intermission Dan came out to play his solo set starting on piano and then switching to guitar.  His grandmother was in the audience (at the table in front of us) and he told stories throughout the night about his time in Castlemaine with relatives while he was growing up.  Dan played songs from his two albums, including "Old Fitzroy," "Enemy," "Get Out While You Can," "Nyul Nyul Girl" and a very powerful rendition of "Roslyn."  He came back out for an encore of a couple of songs and then invited Alexander to rejoin him on stage.  They finished the night with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and Hoodoo Gurus' "I Want You Back."  It was a really great show, and I had a brief chat with Alexander afterwards.  I thanked him for explaining the lyrics to "Mercy Valley," and since Oh Mercy will be in the States while I am there hopefully I'll be able to catch a show if the timing works out.

We headed out into the cold and hit the road to drive back to Ballarat.  Mary and I stayed the night at Tash's miner's cottage (or the igloo as we called it before the heater kicked in) and then drove back to Melbourne this morning.  It's always nice to go on a little road trip, especially when I don't have a car here.

Bridesmaids

Last night Amrita, Claire and I went for dinner at Claire's restaurant Tin Pan Alley in Seddon (very good wood-fired pizzas and even more delicious desserts) and then headed to the gorgeous art deco Sun Theatre in Yarraville to watch the movie Bridesmaids.  I had been wanting to see this film since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. Kristen Wiig plays Annie, a woman going through difficult times personally as her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets engaged and asks her to be the maid of honor.  The rag-tag group of bridesmaids includes the ultra competitive Helen (Rose Byrne) who ultimately ends up taking over organizing the wedding.  There are so many hilarious moments in this film that I was laughing to the point of tears several times.  I almost think I need to go back and watch it again because I probably laughed through some of the punch lines.  If you have the chance definitely go to see this film.

Little Red- All Mine Tour

Last night I met up with Mary and her friend for dinner at HuTong Dumpling Bar (I still can't believe we managed to get a table) before heading to the Palace Theatre to see Little Red. The first act of the night was Passport for Amy, a young band that I found quite bland and boring.  They were almost a paint by numbers style of emo guitar rock- not good.  Next up was the new wave dance sounds of World's End Press.  While a lot of their beats sounded like they were slight variations of an assortment of famous 80s/90s songs, the band members were energetic with their continuous dancing and sounded good overall.

Little Red began their set with album opener "Get a Life." Most of the songs played were off the Midnight Remember album, including "Slow Motion," "Lazy Boy," and current single "All Mine." During the rarely played "Chelsworth," Taka managed to fall off his bass drum into the left side of his drum kit (the first time I've ever seen that happen).  We were privileged with two brand new songs and I was also happy to hear old favorite "Witchdoctor."  As expected, their break out single "Rock It" got the biggest audience reaction of the night.  I do wonder how the band view this song as it has been such an unlikely hit for them and has changed the type of audience they now attract.  The boys finished their set with "It's Alright," and then came out and played "Coca Cola" for an encore, which was the final song for the night.

Here's the video for "All Mine" which was shot around Melbourne (including near my work):

Commencement Addresses

It is graduation time in the United States, and universities compete with each other to get good commencement speakers.  For my graduation from UC San Diego, they created an all-campus ceremony so that then President Bill Clinton could give a policy speech on diversity in the United States.  Probably the most sought after speakers though are comedians.  There were a couple good ones this year with Conan O'Brien giving the commencement address at Dartmouth, and Stephen Colbert at Northwestern University.





I would also like to offer my congratulations to the very first class of third graders that I taught, who graduated from high school this week.  All the best for your futures.

Pajama Club

I will admit I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Neil Finn was turning late night jam sessions with his wife Sharon into an album and side project called Pajama Club.  However, when I heard a clip of their music, I got excited and feel that this could be one of the best things he's done in years.  Pajama Club played just their fourth show ever tonight at the Corner Hotel.  The opening act was young Byron Bay band Glass Towers who played a good set of catchy, indie guitar driven songs and reminded me a bit of Yves Klein Blue.

Pajama Club came out to big cheers from the nearly sold out crowd.  The majority of the set consisted of songs off their upcoming album, which have a real groove to them. They sounded great and were sort of like Neil's grittier solo material in style.  The only songs played in the set that had been previously released were the Finn Brothers track "Suffer Never", "Little by Little" off the last 7 Worlds Collide album, and "From a Friend to a Friend," which is their first single.  I really enjoyed the show and if you get a chance to see Pajama Club live, go for it.  After the gig I caught up briefly with Peter and Mark, and also saw Noel Crombie (Split Enz) and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) in the crowd.


The Pajama Club - 'From A Friend To A Friend' Teaser from Two Fish Out Of Water on Vimeo.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live

When I was offered a free ticket to see children's tv show Yo Gabba Gabba! live on stage at the Palais Theatre this afternoon, how could I say no?  It was the second of three shows they were doing today, and the audience was filled with parents and their young kids.  The staging for the show was simple but effective with a large movable screen at the back and an open stage for characters to move and dance around on. DJ Lance Rock was exactly as he appears on tv (and is even like that in real life according to my friend). They did many of their well known songs, including "Name Game," "I Like to Dance," "Party in my Tummy," "Get the Sillies Out," "The Freeze Game" and "Bubbles" (complete with actual bubbles which had the kids going crazy in the aisles trying to pop them).  Another reason I went was that Little Red was the Super Music Friends guest for the Melbourne shows.  They sang their hit single "Rock It," which DJ Lance Rock liked.  They also had Biz Markie there to do Biz's Beat of the Day, and he got some kids in the audience to do some beatboxing with him.  Overall it was a very entertaining show, and Yo Gabba Gabba! is definitely one of the few tolerable children's shows on tv.

Boy & Bear- Autumn Tour

Last night Mary and I met up for our usual dinner at Mexicali Rose before heading over to the Corner Hotel for the third sold out night (but first show on sale) of Boy & Bear's autumn tour.  The first opening act was Brisbane singer-songwriter Emma-Louise, who was accompanied by a band. She has a soft and kind of ethereal voice and played mostly slower songs with a couple fast numbers. Overall she sounded good.  Next up was Sydney band Jinja Safari, who impressed me very much.  They have a fantastic energy on stage, and their songs are uplifing and full of Afro-Caribbean beats which reminded me a bit of Vampire Weekend.  They are definitely a band to watch and were very entertaining.

Boy & Bear came out to big cheers from the sold out crowd. Their hour long set was an even mix of old songs and new ones from the album they have just finished recording, which sound great. We got to hear old favorites "Mexican Mavis," "Blood to Gold," and "Rabbit Song," as well as their amazing cover of Crowded House's "Fall at Your Feet."  During their sound check in the afternoon an amp caught on fire and they thought it was the most rock and roll thing that has ever happened to them. One fan on Facebook coined the term "death folk" and at the end of the following song Dave had managed to break a guitar string.  Despite the band's suggestion, no one started a circle pit on the floor.  The final song of the night was their new single "Feeding Line."  It was another wonderful show, and I have to give props to the people who dressed up like the "Rabbit Song" video- especially the guy in the tie cape.

Here's the brand new video for "Feeding Line"

Eurovision Song Contest

This week has been the annual Eurovision Song Contest, which was won this year by Azerbaijan.  However, my favorites were the following songs:

Denmark: "New Tomorrow" by A Friend in London


Serbia: "Čaroban" by Nina


Also, honorable mention goes to the sand artist who performed with the Ukraine (amazing):

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"

Kins Residency

Following a catch up dinner with Chantal after work I headed to the Builders Arms Hotel in Fitzroy to see the third date of Kins' March residency.  The first act of the evening was The Removalists, which consisted of Liam Halliwell (The Ocean Party/Van Morrissey) playing guitar with a friend on bass along to backing music and samples from their computer. Their set was decent and the bass player told a funny story in between songs about his Oxford educated housemate who is trying to find himself.  For the last couple songs they were joined by Jordan Thompson (also from the above mentioned bands) on vocals.

Next up was Seagull, who I haven't seen live in a while.  Chris and his band played an all too short but excellent set of songs, mostly from his latest album Council Tree. Highlights included "Water," "Company" and "Grand Mother."

Kins is the new band of Thomas Savage (ex-Oh Mercy).  The room was pretty full as they started the evening with "Fade Bird, Fade."  The songs in the set were taken from their previously released singles and the upcoming LP Dancing Back & Forth, Covered in Whipped Cream.  Thom's guitar playing was both impressive and gorgeous, especially on my favorite song "United Fate."  Current single "Lake Troposphere" was another highlight, and they finished the night with the title track of the LP, which is due out in May.  It appears that Kins is building some buzz around Melbourne, and I look forward to seeing how they progress.


Lake Troposphere from Kins on Vimeo.

Tim Minchin vs. the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Tonight I met up with Tash, her sister Jessie and Jessie's boyfriend Heath for dinner at Republica in the St Kilda Sea Baths before walking over to the Palais Theatre to see Tim Minchin versus the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.  Tim is traveling around the country and battling the local symphony orchestra in each city he plays (okay, it's not really a battle but they are playing along with him).

Tim started the evening with a big rock number about being in a cage (which he was), complete with an industrial strength fan and guitar solo.  The show itself featured both old and new material as well as funny stories and intros in between songs.  It was really good to hear old favorites such as "Rock 'n' Roll Nerd," "If I Didn't Have You" and "Prejudice."  He covered the topic of religion with "The Pope Song" and a song about God curing Sam's mom's cataracts.  Of the new stuff, "Content" was quite amusing as he clarified the half covered up lyrics he sang in the first go around, and "Lullaby" was a twisted take on getting your baby to sleep.  The final song of the main set was a big production of the ever popular "Dark Side," and then Tim came back on to do an encore of my favorite song of his "Not Perfect."  It's so exciting to see how successful Tim has become over the past few years and all the recognition he is receiving both in Australia and the UK.

Here is Tim performing "Lullaby" with the MSO on Ben Elton's recently cancelled show.

Up in the Air

We left the hotel bright and early on Friday morning and watched the sunrise on our way to the airport. The first of my three flights was from Maui to Oahu, and thankfully Hawaiian Airlines checked my bags through to Sydney.  In Honolulu, my flight was the first one to leave so my parents waited with me at the gate until it was time to go into the boarding area.  It was so nice to be able to spend time with them this week.  We said our goodbyes and they headed to their gate for the flight back to San Francisco.

Thankfully on my flight to Sydney I had no one sitting next to me so I was able to stretch out.  After landing I got through customs pretty quickly and in fact spent longer waiting for the bus to get to the domestic terminal.  I checked in at the Virgin Blue counter and then headed to the gate, but not before getting swabbed for explosives once again.  This time I actually had a false positive, but they let me through after a second swabbing.  The flight to Melbourne was non-eventful and after picking up my bag at baggage claim I was in a taxi and heading for home.  It's been a very long day of flying, but at least I have tomorrow to recover before heading back to work on Monday.

Finally a Sunset

Today was our last full day in Maui.  We drove down to Kihei to wander around, and in order to satisfy my ongoing desire for decent Mexican food had lunch at Fred's Mexican Cafe, which was quite yummy and filling.  We also stopped briefly at Maalaea Harbor before driving back to the resort.

Mom and I went to down to Ka'anapali Beach and finally got to watch a sunset, which has been impossible up until now because of the clouds at night the whole trip.  The waves were strong along the beach and surfers were out in the water.  Once the sun set I went for a quick swim in the pool before we headed back to our suite with dinner.  All that's left to do is pack our bags as we will be off early in the morning for the airport.

Birthday Luau

Happy birthday to me!  Mom and I left Dad behind to relax at the resort while we went to Whalers Village to do some shopping.  Mom wanted to pick up some souvenirs and gifts for family back home, and I finally found something to buy- a retro Pan Am Honolulu t-shirt from Malibu Shirts.  We also checked out the whaling museum, which was quite informative about the whaling industry in the 1800s and the very hard life sailors faced on the ships.

In the evening we headed down to Lahaina to attend the Feast at Lele luau. We got a lei and mai tai cocktail as we entered the venue and had sit down table service by the beach for the entire night.  Unfortunately it was cloudy once again, so we didn't get the sunset we were hoping for.  There was Polynesian dancing from four islands to go along with each of the themed courses from Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. The food was really good and since drinks were included in the price I took advantage and sampled various cocktails including a pina colada and blue Hawaii.  For the dessert course they wrote happy birthday in chocolate on my plate and had a lit candle in one of the tarts.  It was a great way to spend my birthday evening and we were very full by the end of it.

Chillaxing and Burning

Today was finally a day of relaxation- our first since arriving in Hawaii.  We headed down to the beach at midday and after a half hour came back up and found some lounge chairs and a bit of shade around one of the many pools on the grounds.  I really like the design of the resort and the pool we were at flowed around in a bit of a circle and even had a little waterfall.  We took turns going into the water and I also had a couple of stints in the hot tub.  Although I did slather myself in sunblock and had a hat on I still got a bit sunburned.  Around mid-afternoon we started to get hungry so we bought some lunch at the gourmet market and headed back to the suite to eat.  I took a shower and moisturized my skin like crazy to hopefully prevent it from peeling in a few days.

We had dinner reservations at Duke's Beach House, which is the only restaurant located at the resort. The place was packed and we ended up with a waiter originally from the Bay Area.  I ordered the ocean mile cocktail, which may have been the strongest drink I've ever had in my life (lots of rum and vodka).  The food was good but not great and I found some of the dishes to be a bit heavy and fried.  We were so full from dinner that we didn't even attempt dessert.  The walk back to the suite was nice with the pathways being illuminated by flaming tiki torches.