reverancepavane | (no subject)

Yesterday was a dilemma. Two houses, alike in... no wait a minute, that isn't quite right. Let's start again.

Yesterday, after having planned it for months, Black Rain's [a German label] two Australian bands met at the Wheaty for a gig. One of these, Dandelion Wine has just returned to Melbourne from a triumphant concert tour of Germany and the Czech Republic, to quickly dash over to Adelaide to join local band Brillig in putting on a show.

Meanwhile, also yesterday, the Spirit of Albion Collective was putting on a fund-raising show to help defray the expenses of sending 30-something 30-somethings to the Woodforde Folk Festival early next year. Now the Spirit of Albion Collective includes the likes of Spiral Dance (as well as a couple of Morris troupes, a mummer's play, and a vaudeville act, but that is irrelevant to this discussion).

Now I definitely wanted to go see Dandelion Wine and pick up a copy of their latest release, but I also really wanted to dance at the Spiral gig. And by dance, I mean really dance. Fortunately the Brillig/Dandelion Wine gig was at the Wheaty and the Spiral gig was at the Folk Fed, just down the road. And since by some strange unknowable twist of fate, Dandelion Wine was supporting Brillig, rather than the other way around, I could go see Dandelion Wine and then scoot off to see Spiral Dance. It would mean I'd have to miss Brillig's gig (and the chance to be in the new video they are doing as well as a couple of their new songs which they were previewing that night), and I'd miss the excitement of watching morris dancers do their stuff for the thousandth time. I mean, I would have liked to stay at the Wheaty (this time two friends turned up to keep me company, and I had a fun discussion with Elizabeth from Brillig before the show), but I really needed to dance (especially after the brilliant Dandelion Wine performance), but the back room of the Wheaty isn't normally st up for dance and the standard Brillig crowd are too cool [or scared] to do so, so...

Anyway, it was an excellent Dandelion Wine show. Nick and Naomi switched instruments like crazy, as is their wont, creating a ethereal psychopomp-pumping sound. The preview of the new album definitely makes it a worthwhile acquisition (I shall wait until I actually listen to it, and the Black Rain Xmas Compilation I also got because it has Naomi wanting a hippo of the potamus for Christmas). They well deserved their traditional chocolate frog (although it was one of the smaller ones this time). Besides, Naomi definitely performs better with a sugar fix. <grin>

I should note that Brillig also received a chocolate frog to avoid possibly-deadly frog envy. Green may be a colour for luck, but it also the colour of jealousy. Incidentally, Elizabeth had never encountered such a frog before, which means that she must be educated as to the true power of the fully-sized milk peppermint Haighs chocolate superfrog... <bwah hah hah hah hah ha ha ha ha> A pity it won't be the original moulding which was a considerable lump of totally unbreakable chocolate (which was one of the reasons I enjoyed giving them out). These new moulds can actually be broken. <sigh>

Anyway, it would have been fun to dance to Dandelion Wine.

Anyway, after their gig was over I rushed down to the Folk Fed, to arrive at the very nick, the precipice of the beginning of Spiral's set, where I then commenced to dance like a mad whirley dancey thing. I mean I was practically going on pointe at times (not quite, I didn't have the shoes for it). Lots of fun, and it got a lot of the mad out. Although dancing with a young girl (left abandoned on the dance floor when people coupled up to do an old French dance) was exhausting. I have problems with people outside my size range by half a head, trying to cope with someone half my size was a great strain. [Admittedly my first thought was to cure the dejected look on the young ladies face rather than what it looked like to other people, but the young lady's guardian did confirm that I was in fact safe. I keep forgetting when I'm in the Spiral community that we normally live in a world of fear. Oops. Oh well. No harm, no foul.]

Anyway, apart from that I had some wonderful fun dancing at (rather than with) a few people of my acquaintance from the past. No hassle from people who want to be part of my non-existent future or who were part of my incorrigible past, which was good. Although there is a definite animus from some portion of the pagan community who probably believe that I have abandoned them. [I stopped going to PASA meetings because I felt that had become non-non-denominational. Curiously, the segment where I am getting the negativity is the core of this shift, so I'm probably correct. The alternative is one of my past is spreading dissent amongst them, but this is a far less likely possibility by at least an order of magnitude. Unless I underestimate the damage caused. And no, this isn't paranoia. It's how I've been trained to think. Always consider the odds and the likelihoods, the possibilities and probabilities and act so as to seamlessly integrate the Weave. And yes, I think too much, but it's batter than not thinking at all.]

The dance floor wasn't too crowded, so I was free to dance properly rather than be constrained by the presence of others, although my agility and fitness are way down, but that is only to be expected. Then again overriding stuff is definitely worsening my condition, but I don't really care any more. However it is likely that Spiral won't be back at this venue in a long while, due to politics. Which is a pity as it has a large wooden dance floor which is capable of handling a couple of concentric circles of dancers.

Oh, forgot to mention that Haley is apparently a plague-bearer and so we were missing the dulcet tones of the violin, so no Burning Times. And apparently a stalwart of the SA community has gone into serious mestatses with a formally dormant cancer.

And apparently they are redeveloping the Brecknock as a Chinese restaurant, which has some members of the Irish community upset, or at least confused as to how they will celebrate Saint Pats day. Perhaps with green tea rather than beer? It might be healthier for them.

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oh, the brecknock as a chinese restaurant. hmm. that'll be interesting - in the sense of 'living in interesting times'?

My informant was apocalyptic about it in his outrage. So much so that he didn't actually tell me what was being planned, just spluttering on about how it is a heritage listed building. I had to actually do a little research to discover a speech given by Michael Harbinson (the Lord Mayor of Adelaide) on the proposed redevelopment back in July. Which made sense given the nature of the consortium that bought it a few years back.

My informant wants to organise public and media protests, under the auspices that the public was not actually told about it and that it is a heritage-listed building. Unfortunately there is nothing that he can do in actuality. The alterations to the establishment are perfectly permissible under the Act (provided they don't change the facade they can do anything they desire to the interior), and the building isn't even changing it's actual technical classification of use since they intend to retain the rooms located on the second floor (at least for the forseeable time; later they might complete the transformation of the upper floors once they have established it as a restaurant and noted that the comparative cash flow from the accommodation portion of the business is a net drag on the rest of the business). Legally he doesn't have a foot to stand on. It's just changing from an "Irish Pub (which serves food)" to a "Chinese Restaurant (which also serves alcohol and has rooms for hire)." Even the Liquor Licensing Board would be hard put to justify not signing off on the change (since it reduces the capacity of the venue).

But it does mean that Adelaide is losing its main St Patrick's Day venue and a live music venue dedicated to folk-style songs. Which is his main complaint.

pretty much.

it'll be interesting to see how it fairs as a chinese restaurant. especially just done the road form a street of them, across the road form an established one, and in a venue long known as a pub.

*shrugs*

IIRC the owners of the restaurant across the road are the same as the owners of the hotel. I suspect what will effectively happen is that the restaurant will simply transfer itself across the road. And I envisage a much more serious evening dining experience (a la House of Chow) coupled with providing lunch service for the south end of the city.

that might work - parking? i've never thought about parking for the brecknock.