MWF- America In Decline

I always find it fascinating how much interest there is in Australia about what is happening in America, particularly in a presidential election year. As part of this year's Melbourne Writers Festival author and staff writer for The New Yorker, George Packer, did an hour long session at Deakin Edge in Fed Square with Australian author Don Watson on the topic America in Decline.

It was a bit of a meandering discussion that touched on George Orwell, the Iraq War, where Packer was a reporter and wrote book The Assassins' Gate: America In Iraq, and eventually got on to the main topic of America in decline, as Packer retold some stories about the lives of people featured in his 2013 book The Unwinding: Thirty Years of American Decline. It is this decline that explains some of what is happening with the presidential campaign this year and rise of anti-establishment candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

The most interesting parts of the discussion for me were when Packer talked about President Jimmy Carter and how he was the last person to tell the truth to the American people through his presidential addresses. When he lost after one term to Ronald Reagan, no President has been brave enough to be that honest since. Packer also touched on Trump voters and how their issues and concerns shouldn't be dismissed outright and need to be considered by Democrats if they get into office. Afterwards I was able to buy a copy of The Unwinding and get it signed by Packer. As I briefly discussed having to deal with the Trump voters in my family his advice was to continue to engage them using facts and kindness.

Dave Dobbyn- Australian Tour 2016

It's been many years since I last saw Dave Dobbyn play live so I was excited to catch his Australian tour stop at Max Watt's last night. The crowd was full of Kiwi expats, which was fitting for such a musical icon of New Zealand. The opening act was Jesse Sheehan, who played a solo set on acoustic guitar. Doing songs from his debut album (produced by Neil Finn), Jesse sounded great and got the crowd involved in a couple numbers. For his last song he switched to electric guitar and brought out his fellow Dave Dobbyn bandmates to play along with him.

Dave Dobbyn got a huge reaction from the crowd as he emerged on stage and started off the evening with "Whaling." Touring in support of his new album Harmony House, he played a few songs off of it but mostly delved into his extensive back catalogue. We got to hear Th' Dudes and DD Smash era songs "Outlook For Thursday," " Devil You Know" and "Be Mine Tonight." The Loyal album tracks "Loyal," "Love You Like I Should" and "Slice Of Heaven" had some of the biggest audience sing alongs of the night. The 1990s were represented by "Naked Flame," "The Lap Of The Gods" and "Language" from my favorite album Twist, and "Blindman's Bend" and "Beside You" off The Islander. Dave sounded amazing throughout his over hour and a half set and everyone in the crowd had such a great time as they sang along to every song. For the encore they played "You Get So Lonely" and finished the evening with "Welcome Home." This was such a fun and uplifting show to be at and just confirmed Dave's status as a New Zealand national treasure.

Here's the video for the single "Angelina" off Harmony House:

MIFF- Emo The Musical, Kiki and The Lovers And The Despot

It's the final weekend of MIFF and the last of my films for this year's festival. Last night I started my evening at The Forum to see the world premiere of director Neil Triffett's Australian musical comedy Emo The Musical. Most of the cast and crew were in attendance to watch this film, which originated from Triffett's 2014 Berlinale award-winning short film. It starred Benson Jack Anthony as Ethan, an emo boy who starts at a new high school after getting expelled from his old one. Navigating the different tribes at the school he soon found a group of fellow emos and joined their band Worst Day Ever. Their rivals at school were a Christian worship group, who decided to compete in the same local band competition. Ethan falls for one of their members, Trinity (Jordan Hare) and they try to keep their budding romance a secret. The film is a bit like Glee as the students break into song, with my favorite bit being when Trinity realised that "Jesus was an emo." It was an entertaining film with the ultimate message of being true to yourself. After the screening Lawrence Leung hosted a Q&A with Triffett and his producer. They are hoping to get the movie picked up for distribution more broadly.

Next I saw Sara Jordeno's documentary Kiki about today's New York City ballroom scene. Featuring LGBTQI youth of color, the kiki scene is more organised and socially active than its earlier counterparts captured in the landmark documentary Paris Is Burning. Set to a soundtrack by Qween Beats, the film followed the heads and members of a few different houses as they competed in ballroom and provided a support network for each other. It was a fantastic look at this often marginalised community with some really insightful commentary, political discussion, as well as amazing dance sequences and costumes from the ballroom competitions.

Today I headed to the Comedy Theatre for my final film of MIFF, the documentary The Lovers And The Despot by Ross Adam and Robert Cannan. It tells the true story of South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and his ex-wife, actress Choi Eun-hee, who were kidnapped in the late 1970s by Kim Jong-il's agents to help bolster North Korea's film industry. While under captivity they gained Kim Jong-il's trust and had the freedom and financing to make whatever films they wanted. As they met the goal of getting North Korean films into international film festivals, it provided Sang-ok and Eun-hee the opportunity they needed to ultimately make their escape. It's a bizarre tale and unfortunately doesn't really cover the aftermath or reaction in North Korea to their defection back to the West.

MIFF- Suzy And The Simple Man and Born In Flames

For tonight's MIFF session I started at the Kino Cinema to see the Australian documentary Suzy And The Simple Man. Filmed over eight years it profiled couple Suzy and John Muir and their life on a farm in rural Victoria, where they grow most of their own food and also raise chickens and sheep. While they dealt with the elements over the years they also encountered personal struggles as Suzy was diagnosed with cancer. It was a touching film about this adventurous couple and how they live a sustainable life driven by their own moral beliefs. After the screening Suzy, John and their co-director Ian Darling did a Q&A with the audience. John, a well renowned adventurer, was wearing a kilt and was quite hilarious and insightful with his answers. It was also good to see Suzy and learn that her cancer is not currently active.

Next I headed out into the rain and down to ACMI for Born In Flames, Lizzie Borden's groundbreaking feminist film from 1983. Set in New York City 10 years after the Social Democratic War of Liberation, women still have to deal with sexism and oppression in the now socialist democracy. Different groups of women, lead by the Women's Army and pirate radio DJs from Radio Ragazza and Phoenix Radio eventually come together and utilise guerrilla tactics to get their message out to the public and force change. It was an interesting film that still holds up all these years later.

MIFF- Weiner, Destination Arnold and The American Epic Sessions

To begin my Saturday MIFF session I headed to the Comedy Theatre for the documentary Weiner. Filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg received behind the scenes access to Anthony Weiner's return to politics as he ran for the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor in 2013. The film was a fantastic exploration of Weiner's attempt at redemption from his previous sexting scandal, and how the truth always manages to catch up with you in the end. You really felt for his wife Huma Abedin and the campaign staff as scandal broke out yet again with the revelation of "Carlos Danger" and the media circus that followed.

Next I went to the Kino Cinemas for the Australian documentary Destination Arnold by Sascha Ettinger Epstein. The film follows aspiring Indigenous bodybuilders Natasha Lawrence and Kylene Anderson, who dream of making it to the Arnolds bodybuilding competition as it comes to Australia for the first time. Filmed over two years you get to experience the struggles of both women as they try to stay committed to their goals.

My final film for the day was The American Epic Sessions by Bernard MacMahon on the big screen at Hoyts Melbourne Central. This fantastic music documentary featured modern day musicians recording vintage Americana songs on a 1920s Western Electric Scully recording lathe that cuts their three and a half minute live takes directly onto vinyl. With the sessions overseen by Jack White and T Bone Burnett, there were a wide range of artists from different genres invited in to record ranging from Nas to Elton John to Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. My favorite sessions were with Alabama Shakes, Los Lobos, Auntie Geri Kuhia, Pokey LaFarge, The Avett Brothers and Beck. It was a great exploration of the history of music in America as this first recording machine captured numerous genres and artists on record for the first time in the 1920s and 1930s.

MIFF- International Shorts 2 and The Neon Demon

For tonight's MIFF session I began at Hoyts Melbourne Central with International Shorts 2, which featured six different internationally acclaimed and awarded short films. Juanjo Gimenez's Timecode, which won the Palm d'Or for best short film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, was my favorite of the bunch. It featured two parking lot security guards who encountered each other as they changed work shifts. A discovery of her colleague dancing during one of his shift leads to them leaving time coded dance messages to each other.

Next was Balcony by Toby Fell-Holden, which showed the developing friendship between two girls from different backgrounds and concluded with a shocking ending. Maria Guskova's The Return of Erkin showed what happened when Erkin returned to his hometown after 10 years in jail and the reception he received from family and friends. The Silence by Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi was a heartbreaking film about a girl who had to translate news of her mother's diagnosis to her but couldn't find the words. Zamo Mkhwanazi's The Call was about a taxi driver who received some life changing news from a sex worker he'd been seeing. The final film was The Bathtub by Tim Ellrich, a funny film where three brothers tried to recreate a childhood photo for their mother's 60th birthday.

I then headed to the Comedy Theatre for Nicholas Winding Refn's film The Neon Demon. Elle Fanning plays Jesse, a 16-year-old aspiring model who comes to Los Angeles and befriends make up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) and her model friends Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote). As Jesse becomes the next "it girl" with photographers and designers, her new friends become jealous and eventually get their revenge on her. The plot was severely lacking in this visually stylish film that featured both necrophilia and cannibalism (and a lot of blood).

Dan Kelly And The Alpha Males- Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth 10th Anniversary

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males' album Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth. To celebrate Dan got the old band back together for a special sold out show at Howler last night.

Opening the evening was Jade Imagine (aka Jade McInally) who played a good set with her band. Her songs had a bit of an old school indie sound and they did a cover of The Church's "Columbus." Next up was Melbourne three piece band Loose Tooth who I really enjoyed. All three members took turns on lead vocals, with their sound ranging from garage rock to shoegaze at points when the female guitarist and drummer were harmonizing together.

It was a packed house when Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males took to the stage. They played all 12 tracks from Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth from start to finish. Highlights for me were "Safeway Holiday (Get Wise)," "Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth," "My Brains Are On Fire!" and "Drunk On Election Night," which featured Dan Kelly on guitar and Dan Luscombe on keys as the audience sang along to the chorus. There was amusing banter about the origins of the songs throughout the night, and Dan and Dan complained that they get mistaken for each other in public all the time. The only song that didn't go to plan was "Vice City Rolling," which had a few stops and starts throughout the song but they finally got there in the end. The encore (although they didn't leave the stage) featured songs from their first album The Tabloid Blues with "Checkout Cutie," "Bunk Lovin' Man" and "Summer Wino," which finished off the night. It was quite an entertaining evening and always special when you get to hear an album played live from beginning to end.

Here's hoping this song doesn't need to be sung in the USA in November - "Drunk On Election Night"

MIFF- Sonita and Janis: Little Girl Blue

I started today's MIFF sessions at the Forum Theatre with two films about refugees sponsored by Oxfam Australia. The first was the short film 1001 Nights In Fairfield by Zanny Begg, which told different stories of survival by members of Sydney's Iraqi community interspersed with dance and song. The main feature was Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami's documentary Sonita about a 14-year-old undocumented Afghan refugee living in Iran who aspires to be a famous rapper. Sonita raps about misogyny, oppression and forced marriage and nearly becomes a victim of the latter when her mother appears wanting to bring her back to Afghanistan to marry her off in order to pay for her brother's marriage. It is at this point that Ghaemmaghami breaks the rules of being a documentarian and gets involved by paying off Sonita's mother to buy her a bit more time. As a video of one of Sonita's songs "Brides For Sale" gets some notice her fortunes begin to change in unexpected ways.

Continuing the theme of female musicians my next film was a documentary on Janis Joplin by Amy Berg called Janis: Little Girl Blue at Hoyts Melbourne Central. With extensive access to Janis' family, friends and musical collaborators, Berg utilises these first person accounts along with Janis' letters home to her parents to tell the story of her life and rise to fame. I hadn't realised how much Janis struggled with being bullied growing up and trying to gain acceptance from her peers as she started out as a blues and folk singer in Texas. Archival footage of her interviews and performances show her immense talents as a singer and why she was such a powerhouse on stage. The film provides a great overview of the 1960s counterculture movement that started in San Francisco Bay Area and spread across the country, including a lot of drug use that ultimately led to Janis' demise from a heroin overdose in 1970 at the age of 27.

MIFF- Paths Of The Soul and The Eagle Huntress

The Melbourne International Film Festival kicked off this week and will run over the next few weeks in venues across the CBD. My first MIFF film yesterday afternoon was Paths Of The Soul at the Kino Cinemas. This film by Zhang Yang follows a group of Tibetans villagers on a pilgrimage to the city of Lhasa and the Jokhang Temple. This months long, 1,200 km plus journey is done by kowtowing, where the villagers clap wooden planks strapped to their hands three times and then dive out onto the road, touch their forehead to the ground and then get up to repeat the process. The group encounter all sorts of weather and terrain, often having to be careful of the trucks driving along beside them on the road. After setting up camp each night they pray and also discuss the reasons for taking this pilgrimage. The film is a beautiful display of devotion and shows the range of human experiences from birth to death that occur throughout the journey.

This evening I watched The Eagle Huntress at ACMI, a documentary film by Otto Bell about a 13-year-old Mongolian girl, Aisholpan, who aspires to become an eagle hunter just like previous generations of Kazakh men in her family. While she has the support of her father and grandfather, many other elder eagle hunters do not agree with this break in tradition. After Aisholpan captures and trains her eagle, she participates in the regional Golden Eagle Festival competition against 70 other hunters. This movie is quite uplifting and a great coming of age story about female empowerment and the breaking down of gender boundaries.

200 Years of Australian Fashion

This is the final weekend for the 200 Years of Australian Fashion exhibition at NGV Australia. It contains over 120 pieces from more than 90 designers that span two centuries of fashion in Australia. The exhibition was staged across four large rooms, with each one themed around a different era.

The late 1800s to early 1900s dresses were classic Victorian era designs with cinched in waists and large bustles and trains.

The 1950s salon was filled with some really beautiful dresses, and included a revolving platform in the middle surrounded by hanging mirrors.

The 1960s and 1970s styles on display ranged from mod A-line dresses to flowers and kaftans, with the emergence of Australiana elements in designs by Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There was one room set up like a large 1980s fashion runway, with videos of different fashion shows from that era playing on the walls.

The last part of the exhibition featured works from contemporary Australian designers and demonstrated more of a minimalist design aesthetic. The final piece on display was a four meter tall dress by Dion Lee specifically commissioned for the exhibition, which was quite impressive to see in person.

Gertrude Street Projection Festival 2016

Tonight was the opening of the Gertrude Street Projection Festival for 2016. Once again there were many interesting pieces created for this year's festival, and the addition of the Atherton Gardens as its very own precinct.

The large building projections are always very popular attractions. Ian De Gruchy's Digital Op Pop was a kaleidoscope of color and design. The Atherton Towers were lit up by Jacob Tolo and Susan Maco Forrester's Fractures, which explored identity and whiteness. The Builders Arms Hotel was utilised by Kate Geck for her work Apeiron on the effects of technology on people's attention spans.

Ian De Gruchy

Jacob Tolo and Susan Maco Forrester

Kate Geck

Geometric shapes were evident in a few pieces. Kit Webster's Morphic Prism is a pyramidal video installation of a recursive reflection tunnel. Lauren Simmonds utilised sculpture and projections in her piece The State of Becoming. Skunk Control were back again this year with Systematic Sanctions, which contained a little urban landscape on a hill that had lights going on and off in the houses.

Kit Webster; Lauren Simmonds

Skunk Control

One of the more political pieces was Alfeo Sanches Pereira and Eneti Waretini's A Natural Resource Curse, an animation about the maritime boundary dispute between Australia and Timor-Leste.

Alfeo Sanches Pereira and Eneti Waretini

Finally, some of my favorites were filmed pieces featuring women. Youjia Lu's Chora showed the artist as a bath gradually filled with water. Petrina Hicks' Gloss featured a butterfly flapping its wings in slow motion while perched on a woman's mouth. The highlight of the festival for me though was Luzena Adams' piece Reverie with its graceful redhead swimming underwater and dipping in and out of the top and bottom of the frame.

Youjia Lu; Petrina Hicks

Luzena Adams

Hunt For The Wilderpeople

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

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

The Living End- Shift Tour

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

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

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

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

Alex Gow and Dan Kelly- The Australian Dreamers Tour

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

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

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

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

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

SFMOMA

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

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

Alexander Calder

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

Andy Warhol

Roy Lichtenstein

Chuck Close

Sol LeWitt

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; George Segal

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

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

Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian and O'Keeffe

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

Dali, Magritte, Duchamp and Rothko

Calgary

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

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

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

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

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

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