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.

Maui

Today we were up bright and early to get to the airport for our flight to Maui.  Since the flight was only 30 minutes long we were up in the air and then heading in for a landing soon after.  It has been a bit of a driving day as we went from the airport in Kahului across the island and up the West Coast through towns along the Honoapiilani Highway.

Since we couldn't check in until later in the afternoon we had lunch in Lahaina and then drove along Front Street to check it out. We also headed further up the coast and stopped at lookout over Honolua Bay to see the view and watch the surfers in the water.

We are staying at the Honua Kai Resort and Spa at Kaanapali Beach in a one bedroom suite that's probably bigger than my apartment.  I thought I would be on the sofa bed in the living room, but there is a second sofa bed in a little alcove area.  My mom and I took a walk around the grounds at sunset before stopping at the gourmet market to pick up some dinner (and a couple organic cupcakes which were yummy).  Tomorrow we plan to relax and lounge around poolside.

Pearl Harbor and the Krishnas

This morning we drove out to Pearl Harbor to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.  First we walked around grounds of the museum and visitor center, which had exhibits, outdoor displays and reflection areas about the lead up to the war and bombing at Pearl Harbor. When it was our time for the tour we went into the theater to watch a film on the history of the Pearl Harbor attack before taking the boat ride out to the memorial.  The memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, which is the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when their ship was bombed by Japanese Naval Forces.  The memorial is very well done and quite peaceful.

After coming back to shore we made a quick stop at the gift shop before heading back to Honolulu.  Mom and I dropped Dad off at the hotel and then went shopping for a couple hours at the Ala Moana Center.  Surprisingly I didn't find anything to buy, although I did take advantage of the free wi-fi at the Apple Store. 

For dinner we drove out to the Hare Krishna Temple to visit my aunt.  She gave us a tour of the grounds while others were at Sunday service and then we joined everyone for the vegetarian feast dinner.  It was nice to catch up with her and she gave us each beautiful leis that had been on the deities during the service (which smelled amazing).  Here's a video of the Ratha Yatra they did in Honolulu a few weeks ago.

The Longest Day Ever

After having no real breaks over the past year I decided to take my birthday week off and head to Hawaii for a vacation.  I picked Hawaii because I've never been there before and it would allow people from home to potentially join me, which in this case was my parents.  I spent Saturday finishing up my packing and then headed to the airport mid-afternoon for my flights to Sydney and then Honolulu.  After flying all night I landed in Honolulu around 10 am on Saturday.  My day had just begun (again).  A couple hours later my parents' flight arrived and I met them in baggage claim.  It was really nice to see them again as it had been over a year since my last visit home.

We picked up the rental car and then drove into Honolulu.  We are staying at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, which is pretty nice.  After taking a shower I headed out for a walk along Kalakaua Avenue to have a look at Kuhio Beach and Waikiki Beach as well as all the shops along the strip.  I didn't really find anything to buy, but did have a peppermint bark ice cream cone from Haagen-Dazs, which was amazing.

I returned to the hotel to get dressed for our dinner at a the very upscale French restaurant Michel's at the Colony Surf.  We met up with a friend of my parents who had chosen this place as it's one of his favorites.  We had a table overlooking the beach as well as a view of downtown.  The food and service were excellent and they had a special menu since it was Valentine's Day weekend.  It was a very enjoyable evening and a great finish to our first day in Honolulu.

Flash Flooding Fun

Australia has really been getting hit by the natural disasters lately- flooding in Queensland and other states and Far North Queensland getting hit by Cyclone Yasi earlier in the week.  Today Melbourne was once again hot and very humid throughout the day.  Chantal and I headed out to dinner and grabbed a table outside under an umbrella.  I had a feeling it would rain and boy was I right.  What started as a downpour turned into a complete deluge as it just bucketed down and everyone ran for cover.  There were huge flows of water down Bourke Street as the CBD got 17mm/0.7 inches of rain in 20 minutes from the remnants of Cyclones Anthony and Yasi.  Of course this resulted in flash flooding throughout the city.  What's scary is that this weather is scheduled to continue and could be worse tomorrow.

Icecream Hands Reunion

Last night Ruth, Danny and I headed to Northcote for the evening.  We started with dinner at Otsumami on High Street, which is sort of like a Japanese tapas place.  We shared a few dishes and it was very good.  After a wander around High Street we had dessert at Delphi Continental Cakes and then headed to a bar where one of Ruth's friends was having an engagement party (and we got to watch the second half of the Australian Open women's final). 

The next stop was the Northcote Social Club where Icecream Hands were reuniting for one night to play their entire 1999 album Sweeter Than The Radio from start to finish.  This is probably my favorite album of theirs, and it was especially fantastic to hear "Spiritlevel Windowsill," "Dodgy," "Yellow & Blue," and "Giving It All Away."  There was a big crowd sing-along for their hit single "Nipple."  You would never know that they haven't played together in a few years as they sounded great.  The encore consisted of two covers and then it was all over.  Hopefully we will be lucky enough to get some more shows like this in the future.

Here's a clip of Icecream Hands on Hey Hey, It's Saturday back in the day playing "Spiritlevel Windowsill"

Happy Australia Day

Today is my first Australia Day as an Australian citizen.  Ruth and Danny were kind enough to invite me over this afternoon for a BBQ, which is a very traditional way of celebrating.  It was also an excuse for them to christen their new barbecue.  We had a lovely spread of food, including some kangaroo while listening to the Triple J Hottest 100 countdown.

In the evening I headed down to the Vibe Hotel Carlton to help out Clinton with the 22 Chinese Language Assistants he had picked up from the airport.  Okay, I really went because I got a free dinner.  In any case, the funniest thing was that as we sat down to dinner, Clinton introduced me and the Language Assistants broke out into applause.  A chatted to a few of them during dinner, and one girl said the 12 hour flight from Beijing was her first time on an airplane.  They will have two days of orientation and then go off to their respective school placements and home stays around the state.

Gotye- The National Theatre

After work I met up with Tash and Mary in the city and then we drove down to St. Kilda to see Gotye (aka Wally De Backer) play a sold out show at The National Theatre.  Opening the evening was Tash Parker, who played a solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar with the occasional pre-recorded loop thrown in.  She has a great voice and Wally joined her for a couple of songs, including a duet that they wrote together.

Gotye took the stage to large cheers and began his hour long set with the new single "Eyes Wide Open."  For this show Wally had two other musicians accompanying him while he played drums and his sampling keyboard.  Most of the songs during the evening were from the album Like Drawing Blood, including "Coming Back," "Hearts A Mess," and "Thanks For Your Time" which had a brilliant bit in the middle about being on hold to Vodafone.  We got three new songs that sounded fantastic, a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" with just Wally on the piano, and "The Only Thing I Know" from his first album Boardface.  Wally finished his set with "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and received a standing ovation from the crowd.  It's good to have Gotye back on the Melbourne music scene and I look forward to the release of his new album (whenever that may be).