Damh the Bard and Spiral Dance will be performing at the Folk Centre on Thursday night from 7:30. $15/$10, at the door. There is a gig in Melbourne on Friday, and one in Sydney on Saturday, before Damh goes back to the UK. Damh will be attending a special Pagans In The Pizza Bar on Tuesday night too. |
Reminder for people interested in such things, that Spiral Dance will be playing in celebration of Pagan Pride Day at The Wheatsheaf from 4pm on Sunday, May 1 (A$10 for PASA). Meanwhile Hot For Joe and Hedgemonkey Morris will be hopping about on the top of Mt Lofty at 5:45am the very same morning, probably hoping to be rescued (something about celebrating a mayday*). Everyone mentioned will be repeating the same behaviour at the English Ale on Saturday the 14th of May (from 2pm if you are interested in druidic stuff, from 6pm if you have a purely secular interest in burning wicker men, and from 7:30 if you want to listen to the good tunes [although you will need to be early to grab a ticket (they go on sale at 4pm at the hall) to ensure attendance]. Also features Damh the Bard. Damnh and Spiral then do a gig at the Folk Centre on Thursday 19th May, and at the 21st May in Sydney. Then we all start preparing for the Winter Solstice Feast on June 25. Theme is "Western." [Any other Browncoats going? Or maybe The Adventures of Brisco County Junior or Wild Wild West (the TV series, of course).] [* This is the Free Trader Beowulf. We are under attack...] |
Just noticed that a capella group Aluka [Otherwise known as 150% of Clare Bowditch's New Slang backing singers] are playing the Format Festival in Adelaide on February 20 next year. This is to remind me since I seem to have fallen off their mailing list, and only chanced upon it accidentally being mentioned elsewhere. Oh well. Less than three weeks to the Fringe guide is out! Don't be mislead by the really snazzy guide to the festival though. Like all hip and trendy web site designs it doesn't actually mention a year and is actually last year's guide. |
Tomorrow (Friday) night it's Spiral Dance at The Wheaty (from 8:30pm). Free. Although there probably won't be as much wild dancing, it being The Wheaty with it's inconvenient collection of tables and posts holding up the roof. But there will be dancing, if I have anything to say about it. Then Sunday it's Brillig, Leigh Stardust, Self Preservation Society and other "Friends of Brillig" at the Whitemore Square fair, from about 11am to 4pm (or thereabouts). There will probably be dancing there too, but the average age of the dancers should (going on past experience), be about 4. Then it's a month's wait until the Port Celtica Festival on the 4th and 5th of December, which I believe features Spiral Dance and Claymore doing a big gig (as well as festival sets) together. There will be dancing at that. |
Four of the eight Coppers Alive Showcases for 2010 were held this weekend. This is a set of gigs, each with a different theme, at various live-music pubs to celebrate local SA music, with some sponsorship thrown in by Coopers for the bands to do something special (from throwing a party or BBQ to producing really cool samplers of their music to give away to people attending the show. I went to the "Alternative Acoustic Folk Roots Singer Songwriters" themed event at The Wheaty, which had the impressive title of "Silence Can Be Like Thunder,"* and which featured Brillig, The Timbers, and Self Preservation Society. The Self Preservation Society is a solo acoustic guitar act by Tristan Newsome (although he was joined on stage by a ukelele-wielding friend who definitely could have done with some more meat on his bones). I'd heard him playing casually before (whilst waiting for something), and was quite interested to see if he was a good when playing "for real." And he is. Driving rhythms and powerful vocals create a strong blues and roots sound, combining instrumental, songs, and spoken word pieces into an interesting folk performance. Well worth seeing. The Timbers is a very energetic (the term explosive does come to mind) experience well worth seeing live. A strong roots appeal with elements of gypsy punk [which I think means that Sarah played violin very energetically. Very very good. Definitely worth making a trip out to see them if they are playing. Although they really need to be playing for a room full of mad whirling gypsy, or even Irish or Scottish, dancers. Definitely foot-stomping time. In comparison, the final act, Brillig, appeared even more sombre than normal. They broke their tradition with only singing songs concerning death by adding Springtime in Kyoto to the line-up, which resulted in one anguished cry from a Timbers fan as to why they didn't make a video of that one. [It is a very nice song that they don't play that often.] I like this group, not just for the sombre elegance, but also for the haunting vocals of Elizabeth and Matt. This was capped off with an all-in performance of Bob Dylan's Lovesick by all eight performers and a skeleton with a ukelele. ( The All-In Finale of Lovesick [YouTube] ) The cool thing for people attending this gig was a very nicely produced playbill folder complete with sample CD in an Old West** style, which also serves as an excellent teaser for the bands to give out. The gigs continue next weekend at Jive (Pop), Jade Monkey (Rock & Roll), The Promethean (Funk, R&B, Neo-Soul), and Adelaide UniBar (Hip Hop). Details here. * From the Bob Dylan song Lovesick. Yep. I was heading towards the country-side of folk this evening and knew it. Yee-hah! ** Hmmm. I must point out some of the Western Steampunk*** genre to Matt. It will make him a lot happier with the idea of it (his previous experience of the genre was playing at the Steampunk LARP at the Fringe last year, which was definitely a Neovictorian affair). *** Speaking of which, one attendee at the gig did an excellent job of dressing up in pseudo-period. Extremely impressive. [Although given that she was apparently the production director for CG hair and fabric drapery in the recent Alice in Wonderland, she no doubt has excellent credentials in this regard. Well actually, given the evidence of her dress she does indeed have not only the credentials but the evidence to back it up.] Although I suspect she was scared by why this large scarey and hairy person was talking to her (even if it was just to complement her on her attire). Makes me wish I still had the capability to do something in that regard.**** **** PS: There is another Steampunk event happening at the Fringe next year. But it's a Secret. |
The Clare Bowditch gig went as all modern Clare Bowditch gigs went. Excellently in other words, to a packed venue. (She again thanked the 7 people who attended her first Adelaide gig at The Jade Monkey*). Four of the band commented afterwards that they saw me bopping away to their songs (and quite happy that someone was). Then again considering there were only about five other people that were close to my height in the gig I did kind of stand out in a sea of short people. I find it disappointing that more people, especially more men,** don't dance. Even the limited dancing that you can do in such a venue and such a crowd. Still, for once,the venue wasn't full of people filming it on their phones, which was an indication that they were enjoying it directly, rather than enjoying it after they had posted it to YouTube. Unfortunately the scheduled opening act was ill, so they had to get quick substitutes. The first was Aluka, a three piece a cappella group from Melbourne who has quite lovely sounds. However The Gov is not kind to acoustic acts, even more so when they are a surprise substitution act for a crowd of people waiting for Clare. So the crowd noise increased as people kept talking over them, and there is no way an a capella act can possibly compete with that. Though they tried valiantly. Having listened to their debut album*** on the way home, I will say they are really not bad (although I'm so used to harmony quartets that I keep thinking something is missing. Anyway, I hope they will be back soon and playing in a more suitable venue. The second support act was a local one, the Cheer Advisory Council. And no, you aren't getting a MySpace link and you will thank me for this – really and truly. We spent their gig debating whether the band would be better off, or simply dissolve, without the lead singer, and whether the later would be a good or bad thing. And then Clare's band came out, and the true identity of Aluka was revealed as being two-thirds of her harmony singers. <grin> Which explains the strange choice of opening with an a capella act. Anyway, it was a fun gig, with lots of good music, although the crowd was quite restrained (if everybody is dancing, or at least moving to the beat, the energy level goes way up on both sides [audience and performers], and unfortunately each person that decides they aren't going to dance instinctively damps four or so people around them when they are in the crowd at the front of the stage). After the gig the signing was fun. Claire is always fun to hug and talk to. So are her backing singers, except they appear much more breakable. [Why do so many excellent singers come in such small packages? <grin>] Tomorrow is The Coopers Live gig (Brillig, The Timbers, and The Self Preservation Society) at The Wheaty, unless all the tickets are sold, in which case it's a fun bike ride to Thebarton and back in unseasonably cold weather. [Thinking about the Jeff Martin (ex The Tea Party, but don't let him hear you say that as there is a lot of anger and bitterness there) gig at Jive in December as well. Although I hear The Gov is having a Ukelele Appreciation Society next Friday too, like last Thursday's at The Wheaty. But I think I'll give it a miss as it's a front bar show. * Which did not include me. I was only told about here four or so Adelaide gigs ago, and by then she could fill Jive. ** Then again, the result is often a target-rich environment (as they say in the military) if you do know how to dance. Which I don't. I just pretend really really really hard and hope no one is watching [cf Quantum Tunnelling and Its Application to Physical Choreography, Aarmack CJ & Winry QV, Rybeck Triversity Press, 3026] *** On purchasing it the shocked exclamation from the band was "Somebody was listening!" |
Tonight (Oct 15) I'm seeing Clare Bowditch in her new lineup at The Gov. Should be interesting. Tomorrow (Oct 16) I'll be at the Coopers Live Showcase at The Wheaty to see Brillig, The Self-Preservation Society, and The Timbers play at 20:30. Plus take home a free sampler of their music and have a chance of winning tickets to Womadelaide. A$10 and only 100 tickets available, get them at the bar. The Flerieu Folk Festival is on next weekend, but I doubt I'll make it down there. The only thing I think is of interest is the Spiral Dance sets (Saturday 11:15 and Sunday 19:30). Then it's the Spiral Dance gig at The Wheaty on Friday November 5 from 20:30, followed by Brillig (probably in their incarnation as the "Gothic Wiggles"), Leigh Stardust, and friends at the Whitmore Square Arts Fair from 11:00 on Sunday November 7, if I am capable of locomotion by then. After that it is pretty quiet, I'm afraid. There is the Port Celtica festival a month later (4th-5th December) and the Midsummer Faerie Ball at Mylor on the 18th of December for Spiral Dance, a couple of gigs in Melbourne that would be tempting (Spiral with Dandelion Wine and Dandelion Wine with Brillig respectively), and finally the combined Spiral and Brillig gig at The Singing Gallery on February 5. [Incestuous much? <grin>] And that's where my schedule ends. |
The Promethean is even nicer than it was a year or so ago. Comfy chairs around the outside, small dance floor, cabaret tables and chairs, not to mention foyer, bar, and gallery. Good stage (with baby grand piano). Not sure about the sound system on offer as I think Rezzalp brought their own. But it, along with the Wheaty (The Wheatsheaf) is on my list of places to recommend to furrin' artists wanting to play live music in Adelaide. The only two problems according to my music orientated friends (who admittedly composed almost the entire audience, if not actually the entire audience bar me), is that it is a venue that is only open when a band is playing (it is very much a performance venue), which means there is no real native audience, and that the acoustics are excellent in both directions (which means that crowd noise (such as people talking in the house) is very noticeable and it is very difficult to play over the crowd in this case. However since the only times I have been here have been to see performers whom the audience wanted to see, and who were good enough so that the crowd was silent for a few seconds after each piece, this definitely wasn't a problem. As you may of guessed, I went to The Promethean on Grote Street to see Melbourne group Rezzalp launch their CD in Adelaide. Unfortunately these girls have almost no following in Adelaide, which is a great pity. I recognised almost the entire audience from the Brillig video shoot. The exception being the Production Director for Womadelaide (who knew the sound person) and two other people off to the side, who knew people who were part of that core. Which means there was a very small crowd to see them. The show opened with Brillig in their smallest configuration I've seen them yet (just Elizabeth and Matt), rendering acoustically some of their favourites. Including The Old Captain. Excellently done. The venue, being an old community theatre, really does have excellent acoustics. This was followed by the delectable Cookie Baker who played on piano whilst singing. I have to admit the style suits her, probably more so than when she is accompanied by her regular partner on guitar, as is normally the case). It was a very relaxed performance, given that she knew most of the crowd by name (and vice versa). But then the true stars of the evening filed in through the room, dressed gloriously in white (from the simple white dress to a full on white ballerina outfit): the four Plazzer sisters (who make up Rezzalp (and the drummer Josh and cellist Prudence* in black). The music was excellent, and definitely should be of interest to those who like contemporary Australian female vocalists. [This is a hint for when they appear back in Adelaide next time.] Styles varied from poppy to jazz, and a number of pieces were greeted with that wonderful silence that comes from the audience suddenly realising that the music has stopped and yet not yet having reattained sufficient cognition to realise that they can start clapping now. [And you have to remember that the majority of the audience were die-hard music professionals when you consider this.] Anyway, plans were made to try and get them to come back to Adelaide again. It looks like there is another group who will be trying to beat the Fringe Artists deadline of 5pm next Friday. And if not, they are trying for the Cabaret Festival and FUSE and gigs at either the Promethean again (Baby Grand!) or the Wheaty. And yes, I am a rabid fanboy now. In addition to whatever natural advantages might accrue from their being cute blondes, I also discovered that Suzanne (at least) is a fan of Inspector Gadget, The Prisoner and numerous over genre shows ... well, lets just say that Helena had to scold her to get her to finish packing up so they could get out of the venue. <grin>: Looking forward to their return. * Yes, she was cute. And even if she wasn't, she still would be.** ** It is an Article of Faith for me that "All cellists are cute." Even if, as was the case once, they are six-foot men with the features of a poor-quality pugalist. He was still cute.*** *** Fortunately he also had the abilities of a poor quality pugalist and at the time I was still throwing people around the mat quite efficiently, which is why he never actually took exception to my calling him cute.**** **** OK I lied. He was too nice a guy to even consider resorting to retribution, physical or otherwise. And he knew me for a Trickster, so the matter is moot. But it did confuse his mother as to why someone would call her son "cute." |
Did I mention that The Dhol Foundation gig was great.* But far too short. Upcoming gigs of possible interest to me: 6th October (Wednesday): Orsino Nation [MySpace] at The Avoca on 893 South Road in Clarence Park at 8pm as part of Toohey's Extra Dry Clearly Talented II competition. It's probably going to be a heavily acoustic set. Although I'm unsure I'll be able to get to this one because of other commitments. Although if others are intending to go it would give me an excellent excuse not to attend the other meeting. 8th October (Friday): Melbourne group Rezzalp [MySpace] are playing at The Promethean on Grote Street at 8pm, supported by local bands Brillig and Cookie Baker ($A18 via Moshtix). If you like George (and you know who I am talking too), you'll probably like them too. Definitely heading to this one. 10th October (Sunday): A Taste of Lilith (otherwise known as Sarah McLachlan, the Court Yard Hounds, Kate Miller-Heidke and The Verses) are apparently not playing the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. I don't know why no one wanted to pay over A$150 to hear one excellent singer (K M-H) and a few good singers attempt to sing in a giant barn. [Now if it had been held at the Festival Theatre I might have been remotely tempted to go. Or buy that new iPad. Hmmmm.] 15th October (Friday): Clare Bowditch's [MySpace] Modern Day Addiction Tour hits The Gov at 7:30pm. (A$34 via Venuetix). Should be lots of fun. 16th October (Saturday): Local bands Brillig, The Timbers, and Self Preservation Society [MySpace] play at The Wheaty in the Coopers Alive Showcase from 8pm ($A10 via The Wheatsheaf [8443 4546]; warning: only 100 tickets!). Come see Brillig cry because they won't get to see The Audreys at The Gov at 7:30 (A$33 at Venuetix). I'll either be watching them cry or reporting back how awesome The Audreys gig was, depending if anyone wants to head in either direction. At the moment I'll most likely be watching the tears, and listening to the other bands. 24th October (Sunday): Spiral Dance is apparently playing an hour long set at 7:30 at the Flerieu Folk Festival. I doubt I'll get down there because of transport difficulties. Not worth the effort methinks. 4th November (Thursday); Still undecided about Sarah Blasko's show at the Norwood Concert Hall (A$51 at Bass). I really like her new album but am unsure whether I want to spend the money to see her live. Vascillating like a mad oscillating thing. Which is rather appropriate. Probably not though, since I canm get my music fix the day after... 5th November (Friday): Spiral Dance [MySpace] at The Wheaty in Thebarton from 8:30pm (Free). Come and play dodge the inconveniently placed poles with the rest of us. 7th November (Sunday): Brillig, fresh from their tour of New Zealand, are playing the Whitemore Square Arts fair. More details closer to press time. That's all I can think of at the moment. Please tell me if I have forgotten anyone I should be seeing. Or if anyone else is interested in attending a gig with me. Saddened that I'm missing the interstate gigs with Spiral Dance and Dandelion Wine. Naomi and Nick should come over here and play with Spiral again, although it is more likely they will play with Brillig if they do. Which means no dancing, in all probability. Must see if I can draw more dancing people to their gigs. Maybe even do a sedate pavane set or waltz to Brillig too. But that would need formally trained dancers.* <sigh> Oh yes, the new Abney Park album should be out on the 15th of October. Looks very nice. Still haven't gotten my copies of the new Voltaire CDs. Or Elana Stone's EP. Hmmmm. Snail mail. Oh, and check out Hello Satellite's new album (thank's Clare!). And speaking or reccomendations, Sleepthief has found another excellent female artist to collaborate with: Claire Macguire[MySpace]. Check out her Ain't Nobody video [YouTube]. * Johnny was really chuffed to be playing in a venue with an excellent sound system. Apparently it was only set to "2" though. Despite pleas to turn it up to "11." ** And I'm more Ferrous Oxide than anything else, myself. I must see about restarting formal dancing of some variety now that it only crippples me for a day or so afterwards, instead of a week. |
It was interesting how many people didn't read the OzAsia website, or even took the hint printed on the ticket ["Dancing permitted in the stalls"], for when The Dhol Foundation came out, only four people stood up to start dancing. And yes, I was one of them. Of course. Anyway, it was almost impossible for the audience to resist the infectious rhythms, and by the end of the second number almost everyone in the stalls was on their feet dancing. Well, the women were dancing and the men were on their feet (to the 90% percentile, anyway; eventually they realised that nobody could actually see them and so relaxed and bopped to the music). Dancing in the Festival Theatre was strange, and it was probably a good thing that the person next to me didn't show up, given that my natural stance is actually slightly wider than the seat space. Mostly I needed to keep my feet where they were, which was unnatural; although at the end, I did essay a proper standing jig for one of their Irish jigs (in case you don't know, Johnny Kalsi is the dhol player from Afro Celt Sound System* so his group plays in many styles, not just the traditional Punjabi songs. So expect some reggae, lots or Irish, and some other stuff. [And speaking of which, do not try traditional Punjabi dancing when you have a damaged rotator cuff. Ouchy.] Anyway it was a great gig. If you are Melbourne on Sunday, go see them at the Arts Centre, listen to them, and (hopefully you will be able to) dance. "Hoi! Hoi!" [They also released a special pre-release "promo" edition of the latest album Drumstruck.] * Johnny specifically said he was not allowed to tell anyone that Afro Celt would be in Adelaide next March. He very specifically didn't tell anybody. |
Rule One: When the majority of your loyal and devoted followers are committed pagans, don't decide to have a gig on the same weekend as the National Wiccan Conference, unless you are actually playing in the same city as the conference. And preferably at the conference. Rule Two: Make sure that the music of the support band is roughly compatible with the expectations of the audience. And your own expectations. When you keep on gossiping during their act people might take that as a hint. Rule Three: Dancing on carpet is no fun. Shocking. But no fun. As you might have guessed the gig at the Queens Arms last night was a bit of a let down. Which is a pity. Both Akoustic Odyssey and Spiral Dance are good bands. It's just, apart from people reasonably directly connected to the bands, there was less than a dozen attendees to the gig. And they were regulars from the Spiral side. I assume the 3 attendees from the Odyssey side were also regulars (I believe one was a partner and the other two friends of the partner). Akoustic Odyssey do some excellent classical guitar and jazz guitar pieces. They are really really good.* However it's the sort of music that is more commonly found in a concert hall or other dedicated performance venue than in the back room of a pub. They are really something you need to go see at a venue were people are less inclined to talk whilst they are playing. They fully lost the attention of the audience (the majority of which were Spiral and fans) about halfway through. When people in the front row find their conversation more interesting than the music, it must be very dispiriting. And this sort of music is something you have to actively listen to in order to fully appreciate it. Very difficult when people are trying to talk over the music. The blight continued for Spiral's gig. With most of the core people being absent the audience response was lacklustre and the energy low. People got self-conscious dancing when almost no one else was (as opposed to normal Adelaide gigs where everyone is dancing and there is lots of energy feeding back into the band), and disappeared back to their seats. There was no one to really spark good energy off of (the only other dancers were unknown to me [and thus tend to avoid the mad dancing thing in their midst]) or had problems, so it was an uphill battle to even get Burning Times working properly. [At least it wasn't the worst BT. That happened when someone tried to steal the energy to work his own nefarious ends. The circle collapsed mid-song as everyone scattered. The band was flabbergasted. Very bad energy.**] All in all a pretty bland live show, for something that is normally full of juice. And nobody fun to dance with either.*** <pout> And carpet is really bad for dancing on! Rumour has it that there is all sorts of politics involved, but nobody ever listens to Insidious Serpentine anyway. The sound was good (which is probably going to end up being one of the eventual problems), so it wasn't the worst gig I've been to this year (that was the Brillig /Voltaire gig where the band got so demoralised by the bad sound they almost collapsed halfway through the show; and definitely drowned their sorrows afterwards). Anyway, the next local gig is 5th November at the Wheaty. Should be a lot better. Good sound, and if we move a few tables, room to dance, provided you don't mind dodging pillars. However they are also doing the Flerieu Folk Festival (22nd-24th October) for those less transport-challenged than I am. * Sorry ** Used in choreography terms, rather than physicist terms. Which is related to fluffy-bunny pagan terms, but not in the way that they think. *** I'm told it's possible to bring your own, but that just raises all sorts of other rather insolvable problems. |
Just a quick reminder that Spiral Dance and Akoustic Odyssey are playing at The Queen's Arms (88 Wright Street) tonight. Doors open 7pm. Music starts at 9pm. $15/$10. I'm already winding up my clockwork so I can be a mad whirley dancey thing again. |
I was going to redo my comments about the weekend's gigs in a less pain-inspired stream of consciousness babble, but I don't think I'll bother. Just rest assured they were fun, DW was excellent and well deserved their chocolate frog, and B probably would have been great too if I hadn't been so busy dancing like a mad whirling dancey thing at the Spiral gig. Although thanks to a certain producer at 3D radio, who shall remain nameless, here are some highlights of the couple of gigs we both attended. See if you can spot the Ian in any of them. First one to do so gets turned to stone. Never play hide and go seek with a gorgon...] ( Early Warning Sign by Dandelion Wine (with guest vocalist Leigh Stardust) at the Wheaty. ) ( Shards by Dandelion Wine at the Wheaty. ) ( Haul Away Joe by Spiral Dance and Hot For Joe at the Folk Fed. ) For those who haven't seen me in any of them I apparently have the high albedo head. And can anyone spot what is subtly wrong with this video... |
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. |
Notes to self. The Dhole Foundation: UK-based cultist group formed around charismatic cult leader Johnny B to ressurect the ancient art of Dhole baiting. Performing their ritual at the Theatre of Festivals on 2nd Octomber. [1] Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls: A collection of ghoul vocalists playing in that huge barn just opposite the brewery. Definitely worth it for the supporting ghoul, an offspring of the Arkham Heidkes and the Innsmouth Millers, and possibly worth it for the main act. However it's at a venue I have vowed never to enter again after my last concert there [too many Elder Signs for my comfort] and at a price that definitely reinforces this impulse. [2] The Audreys: These residents of Dunwich had the farm just 'oer the hill from The Whatleys by all accounts. They are releasing an unnameable horror on the Govenor on the 16th of Octomber (at the same time that Brillig has a gig at the Wheaty). [3] [1] Actually it's The Dhol Foundation with Johnny B from Afro Celt Sound System and his group of dhol drummers (an Indian military drum, half snare, half tomtom). Should be fun. Very energetic. Although the drumheads are made from dhole skins, hence the name... [2] Girls, Girls, Girls, headlining Sarah MacLachlen and with a price tag to match. Although Kate Miller-Heidke will be supporting, which makes it worth seeing if they were not playing at the worst entertainment venue in the world. I think the last gig I saw there was Peter Gabriel's. He was so disgusted with the venue, both acoustically and environmentally (it doubles as an indoor dirt bike arena), he walked off stage and only went back on when the promoter threatened to sue him. He felt his fans shouldn't have to put up with a lacklustre concert, especially after the kick he got out of performing at Womadelaide the previous year. [3] OK, you can carry a joke too far. The Audreys have nothing to do with the Whatelys. They are releasing their new CD, although preorders get a bonus. They are playing at the same time as Brillig though. I know because Brillig really want to go to this gig. [23] Dandelion Wine tonight (with Brillig) at the Wheaty, and Spiral Dance just down the road. I'll do DW first, grab their new CD, and then get down to the Folk Centre to dance with SD. Which means cycling in a strong southerly with lots of rain that should have finished by now. Then again, it's only dihydogen monoxide. It's not like anyone has ever died from inhaling it, or that there is a whole branch of the US military engaged in secret programs to investigate it's usefulness in applied warfare. Akoustic Odyssey is playing with Spiral on the 18th September at The Queens Arms, and alone tomorrow at the Wheaty. And there is that Bird on a wire vocalist at Norwood, if she hasn't sold out. Have I forgotten anyone. I Suspect I have. |
Tickets for Voltaire's Adelaide show, at Higher Ground on Sunday Aug 8 with local band Brillig, are now available at OzTix for $28.60. This should be a great show, and well worth attending. And just over a week earlier, on July 31, Spiral Dance will be playing down at the Folk Centre (corner of George St and South Road Thebarton), together with Louisa John-Krol Minstrel (who is a Faerie bard from Melbourne apparently). Tickets for this show are $20/$15 with under 16 free. The theme is, I believe, the End of Elvish Winter. As always this should be a fun show, with lots of dancing. Or at least I hope so. ETA: And The Idea of North are back on August 21 and August 22. The actual concert is on August 22 at the Norwood Concert Hall, but they are doing an all-day a capella workshop on the Saturday. If you are interesting in developing or refining your ability to sing, it is a highly recommended endeavour. |
Cool. Voltaire, one of my favourite silly music performers, rather than the more-commonly recognised philosopher by the same name, is sounding out the possibility of doing some Australian concerts in Melbourne and Sydney in August. Could be interesting, although I don't really know if it will be doable. At least it's more doable than the Worldcon for me. |
Went with friends* to see Tinpan Orange play at the Wheatie. This is another group that is well worth seeing live, primarily because they allow their accompanist, Alex, to play whatever he likes during the gigs. So you get marvellous improvisations from a virtuoso musician. The extended flamenco guitar and beat violin work in some of the numbers was magnificent. If Alex could dance, he'd be dangerous. <grin> I still think I prefer Jesse's songs to Emily's though. I picked up their latest album while there, so I shall have to see if I have any new favourites (although I suspect round n round will be one [but that's Jesse's again]). The gig was opened by Loren Kate, a folk/busker style musician. Unfortunately she was just returning to stage after an extended break (pregnancy followed by whooping cough), so her performance was not probably her best.** I'll probably come to more of a decision after I hear her CD. * OK, friend, singular, if you want to be accurate. But it is at least better than going to performances alone. Or worse, being alone at a performance, surrounded by friends. ["You're never so lonely as when you are in a crowd."] <sigh> Oh well. Looks pretty quiet until the Fringe at the moment, anyway, although given my success at convincing people to come to Fringe events last year, I'm not holding my breathe (even providing free tickets resulted in less than a 30% success rate). Not that I'm bitter, or anything. Oh well. ** Which is not to say she was in any way bad. Just nothing particularly to get excited about. It was quite listenable and enjoyable (which is better than most artists with a similar style) – just nothing I'd particularly go out of my way to see, methinks. <shrug> ETA: Apparently the Wheatsheaf is officially the Wheaty, not the Wheatie. Who knew. |
Cool. Megan Washington is touring with Kate Miller-Heidke this November. Which means she will be at Kate's gig at the Festival Theatre on November 18. Anyone else interested in going? |
Massive changes seem to affect Spiral Dance at each winter solstice. This time they are losing Ingrid the Violinist, who is, apparently, quite sick of music (at least for the moment). She will be missed by everyone, although she has threatened to still appear at gigs to heckle the band. However her replacement, Hayley the Violinist, played a couple of numbers to much aclaim (and, as Adrienne so noted, makes a quite nice Wood Elf). A quite different style, and I think it's going to work very well. [Ingrid was a bad influence on the band – her replacement had actual music on a proper music stand to play off of.] Ingrid will still be heavily featured in the new CD, continuing the tradition that the latest CD should in no way reflect the current make up of the group. Paul also got to play with his new MIDI accordian, the Alchemist by Peter Hyde, which is very very impressive. I can see The aforementioned new CD will be recorded in September, and should include this song and Land of Albion and many other unheard new ones. There won't be much in the way of gigs as they get Hayley up to speed, and their next performance is probably the Australian Wiccan Conferance in September. I did in fact manage to attend the gig, although I couldn't dance like a mad dance thing very much past the first set. Still far too weak and readily fatigued from my recent illness. But it was lots of fun, although I have to admit I'm not as good dancing Burning Times widdershins. Too used to heading left – it felt unnatural, plus it was a lot more difficult to manage the ambient energy flow. Although I am getting tired of organising people in this dance. I'm a Discordian for Eris' sake. It's a violation of my fundamental principles. Although it was lots of fun knowing the words of Adrienne's new song well enogh to sing along with it without great difficulty, but then again, mosr music is incredibly easy to predict if you know the artist well enough. <grin> |
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