Comedy Queens 2019

Last night I headed to 170 Russell to catch this year's Comedy Queens tour, which was a mix of queens from Australia, RuPaul's Drag Race, and a couple iconic drag pioneers. Local favorite Karen From Finance opened the evening with a medley around names and also MC'd the show throughout the night. Next was Australian legend Trevor Ashley, who spoke about her stage career and life, and sang a song about all the famous Aussies she's been with.

The drag icon Miss Coco Peru then hit the stage and did a stand up set with stories about growing up gay in the US, and also sang a parody song to Frank Sinatra's "That's Life." Next up were two stars from RuPaul's Drag Race and the hosts of the fantastic podcast Race Chaser Willam and Alaska Thunderfuck. Willam did some funny jokes, called out audience members trying to take photos from bad angles, and then did his Britney Spears parody to "Oops!... I Did It Again" about fellow queen and Britney impersonator Derrick Barry. Alaska was next on stage in a leopard print outfit, questioning why she was on the tour since she considers herself a glamour queen. Alaska took out her glasses and did some library reads, and then invited an audience member up to sing along with her to her new song "Walking Into The Club."

After a short intermission the legendary Jackie Beat hit the stage. She did a set of stand up and had a great punchline about wearing flats because her feet are tired from paving the way for everyone else. She also sang two parody songs, including one to Jennifer Holiday's "You're Gonna Love Me." The show then took a strange turn when Vanessa Vanjie Mateo from seasons 10 and 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race came out and didn’t really do much except wander around the stage and the front of the crowd as she dedicated Taylor Swift’s "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" to her ex and fellow season 11 contestant Brooke Lynn Hytes. Karen From Finance had to pop out on stage to keep things moving as Vanjie got a couple guys from the crowd up for a twerking contest.

Thankfully season 8 winner Bob The Drag Queen was up next and just mastered the crowd with a hilarious stand up routine that touched on many topics, including White Night, RuPaul's Drag Race, and the things that are shared between straight girls and their gay friends. Bob also did lip sync mashup around how to detect guys who are cheating. We were then treated to a joint performance by Willam and Alaska of their parody of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" called "A Lacefront Like This" that included several wig reveals and a name-check of Sydney's own Wigs By Vanity.

The show finished with everyone coming back out on stage one by one to RuPaul's "Sissy That Walk" for a final bow. I thought this year's show was much better run to time than last year's, and I love that this tour features such a diverse range of queens, many of whom you wouldn't otherwise get to see in Australia.

Marlon Williams with The Impossible Orchestra: Make Way For Love

Tonight was the start of the three day Supersense: Festival of the Ecstatic at Arts Centre Melbourne. Mary and I headed down to Hamer Hall to see Marlon Williams and The Yarra Benders play the album Make Way For Love with The Impossible Orchestra, conducted by Brett Kelly. We had amazing seats in the second row, which made the performance feel quite intimate. The band came out on stage all wearing suits for the occasion, with Marlon wearing a blue suit with a black lapel and bow tie.

It was great to hear these songs reinterpreted with the addition of the orchestra as they added even more melancholy and drama to each track. Highlights were "Come To Me," "What's Chasing You," "Make Way For Love" and his duet with Aldous Harding "Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore," in which he sang both parts (despite her being in the Arts Centre for her own show later that evening). We were treated to a brand new unreleased song, as well as some old favorites like "Dark Child," "I'm Lost Without You" and a spine-tingling version of "When I Was A Young Girl." They finished the main set with their usual cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Portrait Of A Man."

For the encore, Marlon ditched his suit top for a singlet and asked us to indulge his opera fantasy as he sang in French "Je Crois Entendres Encore" from Georges Bizet's opera Les Pecheurs de Perles. Then they finished the night by inviting everyone in the audience to sing along to Harry Nilsson's "Without You" (perhaps best known from Mariah Carey's version of the song). This was such a special show to be able to attend and hear in the acoustics of Hamer Hall and a great way to kick off the weekend.

Here's the video for "Come To Me"

White Night Reimagined 2019

White Night Melbourne has gone through a few changes this year. Now called White Night Reimagined, it is being run over three nights during the winter on 22 - 24 August 2019 from 7pm to midnight (2am on Saturday) instead of over one whole night in the summer. The footprint is also smaller, with the program mainly contained to three park precincts: Birrarung Marr, Treasury Gardens and Carlton Gardens.

I started my White Night evening tonight in Treasury Gardens, which was themed the Sensory Realm. It was one of the few sites that had large scale light projections, which were done on the building facade of 2 Treasury Place by DAE White Night and The Electric Canvas in a piece called Sensoria.

There were a few experiential pieces in the Gardens, but considering the time constraints of the night I wasn't willing to waste time waiting in line. The other pieces I liked were the audio-visual installation Cluster by Playmodes Studio and the human brain like Synapse by Jack Burton, Monica Lim, Josh McAuliffe and Patrick Telfer.

My next stop was Birrarung Marr, which was themed the Physical Realm. The absolute highlight was the Dutch street theatre company Close-Act, who had The Odd Platoon and Drummers roaming through the crowd strapped to bobbing cranes and the 40 minutes long acrobatic performance Globe, where they performed on a globe shaped scaffolding structure as well as in the crowd.

My last stop for the evening was up in Carlton Gardens, which was themed the Spiritual Realm. This precinct was pretty similar in scale and scope to last year. I really liked the Spirit Creatures by The Lanternist, which were similar to animals done at the Taronga Zoo for Vivid Sydney.

The Guardian by A Blanck Canvas was a giant roving puppet that looked like a lion. Awakened by Balooga Entertainment was another giant puppet, this time of a meditating spiritual being that had audio-visual components.

The big attraction though was the Mad Max Fury Road vehicles, light projections on the back of the Royal Exhibition Building and live performance in the Melbourne Museum forecourt. The vehicles were spread around so you could get an up close look at them, and the performance had people dressed as the characters get up onto the vehicles. However, because it was so spread out it was a bit hard to follow and see all of the performance.

My final stop on the way out was for the neon Love Triangle by Carla O'Brien and the aerial performance Loved by Acrobatica.

Overall the crowds weren't too big on the first night and I managed to cover pretty much everything in around four hours. This is not the White Night of old though, and with limited time you have to make choices about what you want to see and try to time things so you don't miss any performances. It felt more like Vivid Sydney than the all encompassing White Night experience, which I think is an unfortunate development. Who knows what will happen when it is merged with the Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2020.

MIFF- The Dead Don't Die

Tonight was the last of my films for MIFF this year as Belinda and I met up at Hoyts Melbourne Central for Jim Jarmusch's latest movie The Dead Don't Die. This comedy/zombie horror film contains an all star cast and revolves around the small town of Centerville. Polar fracking has caused the Earth to tilt off its axis, and as a result it has thrown out electronics and when day and night time occur. Zombies start to gradually emerge from the local cemetery, and the local cops (Bill Murray, Adam Driver and Chloe Sevingy) along with a small band of locals (including Danny Glover who runs the local hardware store and Tilda Swinton as a samurai sword toting coroner) try and fight off the zombies and prevent themselves from being eaten. It's a very deadpan film with some recurring gags, breaking down of the fourth wall, and a lot of blood and gore.

Boy & Bear- Hold Your Nerve Australian Tour

Last night was the triumphant return of Boy & Bear to the live stage with a sold out show at the Forum Theatre to celebrate their new single "Hold Your Nerve" and the upcoming release of new album Suck On Light. Mary and I got there for the second opening act Tia Gostelow, who played a good set with her band that had a few standout tracks, including their Triple J Like A Version cover of Empire Of The Sun's "We Are The People."

Boy & Bear came out on stage and opened their set with "Old Town Blues". They played songs from across their career, ranging from "Rabbit Song" off the With Emperor Antarctica EP, "Milk & Sticks," "Part Time Believer," "Feeding Line" and "Big Man" off Moonfire, "Three Headed Woman," "Bridges," "Harlequin Dream," and "A Moment's Grace" off Harlequin Dream, and "Breakdown Slow" and "Walk The Wire" off Limit of Love.

It has been four long years between albums and there were questions about whether the band could continue due to lead singer Dave Hosking's health issues, but thankfully they are back with the new album Suck On Light. We got a preview of a few of the tracks as they did "Work Of Art," "Suck On Light" and "Hold Your Nerve." The big surprise of the night though was that in this new era of Boy & Bear they have shockingly reversed their long held rule never to do an encore. The band came back out on stage after the main set to play "Limit Of Love," their cover of Crowded House's "Fall At Your Feet" (along with a verse of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold") and then finished the night with "Southern Sun." I'm really happy the band is back and able to tour again, and I'm looking forward to the release of the new album at the end of September.

Here's the video for "Hold Your Nerve"

MIFF- A Family, Skin, Judy & Punch, and Martha: A Picture Story

In order to fully take advantage of my MIFF mini pass I took a few days off work so I could attend some daytime sessions. On Thursday afternoon I went to see the Australian film A Family, which was shot in Ukraine in a local Ukrainian dialect. Director Jayden Stephens was there to open the film and do a Q&A afterwards. The film centers around a man who hires actors to play his family. He writes up scripts and then films the interactions like home movies. I thought the premise would be funny, but the overall tone of the film was creepy, and I didn't feel any empathy for him or get an understanding of why he was doing all this.

Today I started my afternoon of movies at the Sofitel Auditorium with Guy Nattiv's film Skin. Based on a true story about reformed white supremacist Byron Widner, the film jumps back and forth from Widner (Jamie Bell) getting his racist tattoos removed to flash back scenes of how he tried to extricate himself from the Vinlanders Social Club and start a new life with his girlfriend Julie (Danielle Macdonald) and her three daughters. The film obviously had strong parallels to what we're facing in the world today, and both Bell and Macdonald gave great acting performances.

Next I headed over to The Capitol for the Australian film Judy & Punch by Mirrah Foulkes. A feminist retelling of Punch and Judy, the film stars Mia Wasikowska as Judy and Damon Harriman as Punch, two puppeteers who return to Judy's hometown of Seaside with their baby daughter. In this black comedy, Judy manages to battle the misogyny she and the other women in the town face, and after nearly being killed by Punch works with inhabitants of the hidden heretics camp in the woods to get her ultimate revenge against the abusive Punch. It was a well done and entertaining movie.

My final film for today, also at The Capitol, was the documentary Martha: A Picture Story about US photographer Martha Cooper. Australian director Selina Miles and US Consul General Michael Kleine introduced the film, which tells the story of Cooper's amazing career photographing people for National Geographic, the New York Post and as a freelancer. She manages to build relationships with the people she photographs, and has focused a lot of her work on capturing American gentrification and street art around the world. Her 1984 book with Henry Chalfant Subway Art is considered a bible for street artists, and she still travels globally to photograph street artists at work. Her archives are simply amazing, and she captured a historic period of time in 1970s and 1980s New York City with the emergence of street art and hip hop culture. After the film there was a Q&A led by Melbourne artist Rone with Cooper, Miles and producer Daniel Joyce. She was just as lovely in person as in the film, and admitted one of her main reasons for coming to Australia was to catch some rare Pokemon Go characters.

The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps

Not only is it currently MIFF in Melbourne, but Palace Cinemas are also holding a Music Film Festival at its cinemas around Australia featuring music films from the past 40 years. Tonight was the closing night of the festival with a screening at the Palace Westgarth of the documentary The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps.

The Chills are one of the great bands to come out of the Dunedin music scene in New Zealand in the 1980s on Flying Nun Records. The documentary is a brutally honest accounting of the history of the band, which has had 21 different line ups over the years as founder and lead singer Martin Phillipps pursued his musical vision. There are interviews with Martin and many of the former members of The Chills about their experiences in the band and on the road, which for some were still raw and painful. It also showed the highs and lows of the band with the breakout success of the 1990 album Submarine Bells (one of my favorites of all time by any artist) and trying to surpass those heights with subsequent releases.

The other overarching story line of the film was Martin's health issues. A former drug addict and alcoholic, he has had hepatitis C for over 20 years. At the start of the film we watch his doctor give him the grim news that due to his poor liver function he has a 30% chance of dying within 12 months. While put onto an experimental drug treatment to cure his Hepatitis C, the news sets Martin in motion creatively to finish off music ideas and go through the many massive collections of things in his house, some of which fed into an exhibition on The Chills at the Otago Museum. Overall it was a fantastic music documentary with insights into the creative genius of Martin Phillipps and just how much the music industry has changed over the years.

Sensory Underground: An Immersive Dining Experience Featuring Tokyo Tina

Tonight Mary and I got to attend Sensory Underground, which was billed as an immersive dining experience featuring the food of the restaurant Tokyo Tina. We entered the dining space under Fed Square through a door on Platform 13 of Flinders Street Station. On arrival we were given a little cocktail in a glass jar before being shown to our seats on one of the long communal dining tables.

As this was a multisensory dining experience set in the future, we were treated to different performances during the evening, including lighting installations by Kit Webster, an electronic soundtrack by Rival Consoles, and a robots den curated by Paul Findlay as we left the building.

The dinner by Tokyo Tina was four courses and themed around environmental sustainability. The entree was about finding new sources of food and included a bag with some very tasty crickets.

The first course of tinned fish and sashimi was themed around not wasting anything. It had a tin can that contained diced salmon belly, crispy fish skin, and salmon roe on a bed of salmon liver mousse with kombu crackers. There was also kingfish and salmon sashimi with yuzukosho dressing. All of it was yummy.

The main course was themed around being plant-based and wasting nothing through having it served on a sesame cracker plate. The two dishes were miso roasted cauliflower, walnut and tofu cream, and crispy Jerusalem artichoke, and a pork terrine under a blanket of pickled persimmon.

The final course was dessert, which was themed around future food. It had a 3D printed piece of chocolate along with a yuzu curd doughnut, which was very light and fluffy.

Overall it was a fun experience over the 90 minutes of the dinner, although it felt a bit rushed as we were the first seating for the evening. I'm not sure if the whole immersive experience was as fully realised as it could have been, especially considering the $129 cost (which didn't include drinks).

MIFF- It Must Schwing! The Blue Note Story and We Are Little Zombies

My first MIFF film for the evening was with Sally at the Kino Cinemas for Eric Friedler's documentary It Must Schwing! The Blue Note Story about the famous jazz label. I had no idea that it was founded by two Jewish/German immigrants who escaped the Nazis in Berlin. Childhood best friends Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff had a deep love of jazz music and set up the label in 1939. They both took care of the musicians who worked for the label during a time of racial segregation, and those musicians considered them to be friends. The label's distinctive album covers were due to Francis Wolff's amazing photographs and some cutting edge graphic design. It's a wonderful story of friendship and features some amazing music and interviews with key people in the history of Blue Note Records.

Next I headed to Hoyts Melbourne Central for the Japanese film We Are Little Zombies. This incredibly creative film by Makoto Nagahisa is about four young teens who meet at a crematorium after the deaths of their parents from different circumstances. The film is structured like a video game as you learn about Hikari, Ikuko, Ishi and Takemura and their lives. The four end up forming a pop band that becomes a viral sensation with their very catchy songs, but it's all short lived. The film is visually exciting with a unique storytelling structure. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

MIFF- Suede and Extra Ordinary

This afternoon I continued my MIFF journey at Hoyts Cinema with the British documentary Suede: The Insatiable Ones. Belinda and I were both big fans of Suede back in the day, so it was interesting to watch the story of the band's history, which included unexpected people like Mike Joyce of The Smiths auditioning for the band, and Ricky Gervais, who managed them at the start for a short period. The film contained interviews with many of the key players and band members over the years as well as archival footage from the studio and on the road shot by drummer Simon Gilbert. I didn't know lead singer Brett Anderson had such a bad drug addition in the late 1990s that it led to the band breaking up. They did reform in 2010 for a charity gig, which went so well that eventually the band started recording together again. It's a really good film and those early songs still stand the test of time.

After dinner at Cookie I headed back to Hoyts and met up with Sally for the quirky Irish comedy Extra Ordinary. Rose (Maeve Higgins) is a driving instructor in her small town, but she also has a not so secret past in dealing with paranormal activity. It is only when she meets widower Martin (Barry Ward) who is being haunted by his dead wife, that she agrees to use her talents to help him and his teenage daughter Sarah out. However, things get a bit more serious when one hit wonder Christian Winter (Will Forte) decides to resurrect his music career through doing a virgin sacrifice, and targets Sarah as his victim. Rose and Martin team up to help save Sarah, and the movie really kicks into gear once they end up at Christian's castle to fight for Sarah's soul. It was a funny little film and very entertaining.

MIFF- Watergate and What You Gonna Do When The World Is On Fire?

The latest two films I saw at MIFF were both American documentaries. On Sunday afternoon Sally and I met up at the newly renovated, beautiful art deco Capitol Theatre on Swanston Street for the *four and a half hour* documentary Watergate - Or: How We Learned To Stop An Out Of Control President by Charles Ferguson. The films used a mix of archival footage from the news and Congressional hearings, interviews with many of the key players, and re-enactments of the Nixon tapes with actors to tell the story of Watergate and how it all unfolded. Despite the length it was quite engrossing, and of course there are many parallels to what we are currently living through with the Trump administration.

This evening Megan and I went to the Forum Theatre to see Roberto Minervini's documentary What You Gonna Do When The World Is On Fire? about New Orleans. Shot in high contrast black and white, the film follows four different members of the black community in the city over a summer. There's Judy who owns a local bar, brothers Ronaldo and Titus, Mardi Gras chief Kevin, and members of the New Black Panther Party who are fighting for social justice. The film cuts back and forth between the different people, and there isn't much of a cohesive narrative to bring all the different threads together. The highlight of the film for me was the lovely relationship between the brothers as Ronaldo looked after and taught his younger brother Titus about the realities of life they face.

MIFF- Beats and Come To Daddy

Last night I attended another two films at MIFF. I started my evening at the Kino Cinemas for the Scottish film Beats, based on the play by Kieran Hurley and shot in black and white by director Brian Welsh. Set during the mid-1990s rave scene in Scotland, childhood best friends Johnno (Christian Ortega) and Spanner (Lorn MacDonald), who have very different home lives, are in search of an illegal rave warehouse party advertised via pirate radio. They make some friends along the way and have a night to remember, although not entirely as they planned. It was a really enjoyable film although the thick Scottish accents were at times difficult to understand.

Next I headed to the Sofitel Auditorium where I was joined by Belinda for the late night showing of the comedy/horror film Come To Daddy. There was a brief intro by the director Ant Timpson, which gave us a glimpse of what was to come. The movie stars Elijah Wood as Norval, a thirty-something hipster who after receiving a handwritten letter travels to the remote coastal home of his father, who abandoned him as a child. It's a bit of a slow burn at the start but there are lots of twist and turns in the plot (which I don't want to give away) and it became a comedic bloodbath towards the end with some completely over the top ways of killing off the villains.

MIFF- Matthias & Maxime and The Australian Dream

It is time once again for one of my favorite winter events in the city- the Melbourne International Film Festival. This year's festival runs from 1-18 August, and I have even become a MIFF member this year to make my moving going experience even easier. I began my festival last night at Hoyts Melbourne Central for French-Canadian film director Xavier Dolan's latest film Matthias & Maxime. It focused on twenty-something childhood best friends Matthias (Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas) and Maxime (Dolan) and their circle of friends over a few months before Maxime moves away for two years to Melbourne (which was an amusing subplot for those of us in the audience). While up at a summer cabin the two agree to appear in a short student film by Matthias' sister in which they have to kiss, and this event triggers underlying dormant feelings that drive the plot for the rest of the film. The film was good and has some recurring familial themes from Dolan's previous films, but I think it didn't have the same cinematic beauty of some of his earlier works.

This morning Sally and Megan joined me at The Plenary in the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre for the film that opened MIFF, the Adam Goodes documentary The Australian Dream. While the other current documentary out about Adam, The Final Quarter, pulled together media and archival footage from the last few years of Adam's AFL playing career when constant booing forced him from the game, this documentary involves Adam himself. It focuses on his life story, from his family life growing up to his AFL playing career, and sets his story within the broader context of racism in Australia and how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been treated since European settlement. The film has interviews with with a wide variety of people involved in Adam's life as well as journalist Stan Grant, who was a screenwriter for the film and did the fantastic speech in 2016 that really set the broader context of what Adam was dealing with to the Australian public. After the film there was a Q&A with the British director Daniel Gordon, and their goal is for this film to have an international release.

Gertrude Street Projection Festival 2019

After a year hiatus, the Gertrude Street Projection Festival has returned in 2019 with artists exploring the theme of Persist. Resist. Shift. It was a quiet Tuesday evening as I walked down Gertrude Street tonight and it felt like there were a smaller number of pieces than in previous years. One of the first large scale projections I saw was Yandell Walton's Voice, which focused on images of young climate activists.

One of my favorite things in the festival each year are the projections on the Atherton Towers, and this year they were done by Atong Atem in her piece Looking On, which explored othering and the gaze that accompanies it.

Another piece that I really liked were the aerial landscapes of Taloi Havini's Habitat on the Builders Arms Hotel. This piece explored the cultural and environmental contexts of Bougainville during Papua New Guinea's independence period.

The Gertrude Street Projection Festival runs until Saturday, 3 August 2019.

Seeker Lover Keeper- Let It Out Single Launch

It's been eight years since Seeker Lover Keeper released their debut album. The supergroup featuring Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby are back and played a couple intimate shows in Sydney and Melbourne ahead of the August release of their new album Wild Seeds. I was fortunate to get a ticket to last night's sold out show at the Northcote Social Club.

I arrived for the second opening act, Alice Skye, who just managed to make the show after flight delays from Sydney. She played a short and mellow set that featured songs from her debut album Friends With Feelings. Accompanied by a guitarist and playing keys, she joked that she was bringing the room down with her more somber songs.

Seeker Lover Keeper then hit the stage in full band mode and treated us to a sneak peak of Wild Seeds as they played the new album in full from start to finish. There was not one dud song in the bunch and they took turns singing lead and harmonising together. The banter was quite funny and a bit awkward at times, and included some running commentary on Sarah’s throat gargling in the upstairs toilet (which an audience member walked in on).

After they were done playing Wild Seeds they did a few tracks from their first album with "Light All My Lights," "On My Own," and the anthemic "Even Though I’m A Woman" to finish the main set. For the encore the three of them came back out and sang "Bring Me Back" to close out the night. It was an excellent show and I'm looking forward to getting the album when it comes out.

Here's the video for "Let It Out" featuring Magda Szubanski

Melbourne Cabaret Festival- What's Love Got To Do With It?

The Melbourne Cabaret Festival is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year and tonight Sean and I went to see a performance by American born and Melbourne based drag queen Nefertiti LaNegra (aka Mark Brown II) in the show What's Love Got To Do With It? at Chapel Off Chapel.

This show by the self-proclaimed Serena Williams of drag is about the complexities of love and contains vignettes about Nefertiti's experiences interspersed with songs. Accompanied by a pianist, Nefertiti sang different songs about love, ranging from a stripped back version of Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry On Their Own" to Beyonce's "Love On Top." The hour long show was engaging and uplifting, but also quite vulnerable and honest at points as it delved into the topics of race and domestic violence.

RVG- Alexandra Single Launch

Tonight Belinda and I headed to Howler for the sold out launch of RVG's new single "Alexandra." Opening the evening was four piece punk band Pinch Points, who had fast paced songs driven by a female rhythm section, and were also wearing matching band t-shirts. Next up was the indie quartet Terry, who songs have a mix of humor and politics that are sung in a more deadpan and monotone style.

RVG came out onto the stage and began with a cover of John Cale's "Dying On The Vine." Their set was captivating to watch as lead singer Romy Vager commanded the stage with her vocals and the rest of the band powered through each song. They played quite a few tracks off their debut album A Quality Of Mercy as well as some unreleased songs I'm assuming will be on an upcoming album. Highlights included "Vincent Van Gogh," "The Eggshell World" and new single "Alexandra." In the encore they started with another cover, Buzzcocks' "Something's Gone Wrong Again," and also played "Feral Beach" and an old track "Planet Earth" to finish. The band are off overseas for a June tour in the USA and Canada, so check them out if you get the opportunity as they are an amazing live band to experience in person.

Here's the video for "Alexandra"

MTC- Heisenberg

Tonight Ebony invited me to join her for the opening night of the latest play by the Melbourne Theatre Company, English playwright Simon Stephens' Heisenberg. The play begins in a London train station as the outgoing Georgie (Kat Stewart), a 42-year-old American woman strikes up a conversation with the more introverted Alex (Peter Kowitz), a 75-year-old Irish butcher. Their relationship grows through other encounters, but there are underlying questions about Georgie's true motives and intentions.

Kat Stewart is amazing as Georgie and really brings the complexity of the character to life (although her American accent was a bit questionable at times). Both she and Peter are on stage for the entire 90 minutes of the play, even acting as their own stagehands to move props between scenes. It's an interesting exploration of what can happen when you open yourself up to the possibility of new adventures.

The play runs until 6 July 2019 at the Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio.

New Homeowner

Shortly after I returned from my Christmas holidays overseas, I got the not so pleasant phone call that my landlords were putting the apartment I've been living in up for sale. I had been toying with the idea of buying my own place for a while now, but the housing market here in Australia has been in major bubble territory for years. While it has finally started seeing more significant decreases since the price peak in 2017, I was hoping to be able to wait until later this year to start looking. However, with the impending sale I was forced into action earlier than anticipated.

I spent about a month looking around at places and going to open inspections to get a feel for what was available and prices in this market. Having never been to an auction before, I planned to go watch a couple in case I would have to bid on a property myself. One auction I went to was for a unit I had marked as having potential but hadn't had a chance to see. When I walked through the place I really liked it as it was open and had good sized bedrooms and closet space. Speaking to the agents I told them I was interested but not prepared to bid. We went outside for the auction, which turned out to be just me and another girl, who ended up leaving before they opened things. Since I wasn't bidding, the unit was passed in on a vendor's bid, and then got listed for private sale.

I spent the next week lining up a conveyancer to review the contract of sale, a pre-purchase property inspection, and getting a home loan from a mortgage broker so that I could make an offer on the unit. Thankfully a person I work with recently purchased a property, so she gave me some names of people which saved a lot of time. A week after the auction I put in an offer that was then accepted by the vendors. It was good that I managed to buy this place as the unit I was living in did sell to owner occupiers, so I would have had to move either way.

I settled on the property a few weeks ago so I am now officially a homeowner! As the building is relatively new it didn't require too many renovations or fixes. I did get it painted and replaced the beige carpets with laminate flooring and grey carpets in the bedrooms before moving in. I've been spending my time unpacking and getting settled, but overall I'm excited to finally have a place to call my own (even though I am now much more cash poor than I was a couple months ago).

An Evening With Katya Zamolodchikova- Help Me I'm Dying

Tonight I ventured down to The Plenary in the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre to see beloved RuPaul's Drag Race Season 7 and All Stars 2 queen Katya Zamolodchikova in her new one-woman show Help Me I'm Dying. This title took on new meaning last year when Katya took the year off to go to rehab and deal with mental health issues. She has slowly been coming back into the public eye, first through her podcast with Craig MacNeil Whimsically Volatile, and then with Trixie Mattel as they resurrected their hilarious web series UNHhhh.

The show began with clips of Drag Race winners Bianca Del Rio and Alaska Thunderfuck amusingly congratulating Katya and welcoming us to the show. Katya did one of her trademark introductions from the podcast to bring herself out onto the stage. She opened the show with a Russian themed section in full Katya character that included "playing" violin and lip syncing to Russian language versions of different songs, including Ariana Grande’s "Thank U, Next," M.I.A.’s "Paper Planes," and Whitney Houston’s "I Will Always Love You." While she was lip syncing there were photoshopped photos of her and Trixie's faces in various scenes projected on the background screen. Katya spoke about her life growing up in Russia and coming to America and also did a lip sync to Peggy Lee's "Is That All Their Is?" with some historical footage of 50s/60s women in the background.

The next section was themed around her Boston dumpster dwelling character Trish. It started with a funny extended clip of Katya and Trixie out of drag at a Hamburger Mary’s (with a Courtney Act cameo as a waitress) as Katya talked about a horrifying dream, and then Trish came out onto the stage in a stretch denim catsuit that matched the stage furniture. Trish spoke about her life and then invited a male audience member onstage in order to do a seductive dance for him. She was quite funny with Trish's mannerisms and Boston accent.

We were then treated to a surreal video about shame, which was a mix of Game of Thrones and Twin Peaks and included cameos from Fena Barbitall, Devon Green and Jinkx Monsoon. It started with Katya in a dungeon and then she was forced to walk through the streets in shame for doing half rate drag wearing a red bra and panties. I think the crowd were even throwing mini hands at her. Then she teleported into the Red Room of Twin Peaks where she spoke with Jinkx. It was such a Katya clip and was my favorite bit in the show.

Katya then came out onto the stage as herself and told funny stories, including what her dream gender reveal party would entail. She also showed us a clip of one of her first audition tapes for Drag Race, which was very her. For the finale she changed into a lace bodysuit and did a lip sync medley of some of her greatest bits, including Tamara Lowe's Jesus sermon, Lady’s "Pussy," the Katya verse from "Read U Wrote U," and Tatianna’s "The Same Parts" from All Stars 2. The performance also included full jumping splits and pussy pounding the floor both forward and back and in a circle.

Katya is once of my absolute favorite queens and it was so amazing to finally get to see her perform in person. As expected she put on a very unique and on brand one-woman show with beautiful costumes and a running list of references to things from all her previous works. If you like performances that are surreal and non-linear, go check out her show.