17 Hippies; twelve of them

They are 17 Hippies, though there were only 12 in Adelaide. These pictures are from a workshop session on the Monday.

Their music is a mixture of folk, pop and many other styles. They did more songs in French than German - apparently actually starting to write songs in German was a bit of a breakthrough for the group. I gather from what I remember of the program, and the English bits on their site, that they set out to make their own 'Berlin style'. During the workshop they tried to explain the importance/improbability of using the German language, but I don't think we really got it. Made me curious though.

Their bandleader talked a bit about the hand signals they use when improvising. They've been playing together for many years and do this pretty effortlessly.

Scattergun; but someday soon

This Easter long weekend has mostly been devoted to spending time with my family and catching up with myself (chiefly sleep, music and felting). The extra hour at the end of daylight saving last weekend disappeared almost without a trace. Actually I lost that hour of sleep again when I forgot to change the time on my phone, and on Wednesday morning when I needed to get up at 5:10 am for a flight the alarm went off at 4:10am. Sheesh. By Thursday night, I was so ready for this extra long weekend.

Family highlights include seeing my little niece wearing her dress. Seeing it in action, I'm certain now I'll knit that pattern again, soon.


I've been spending lots of totally excellent time with my Dad's mother, D, who is visiting for Easter. She's been knitting me jumpers all my life. We have a lot in common, and love swapping notes on knitting and books. She gave me a book for an early birthday present; 2-at-a-time-socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. Intriguing. Will try it of course, but whether the technique takes or not, the patterns are lovely (and adaptable).

And music? Well, last weekend I saw Lucinda Williams at the Canberra Theatre. Love her: slightly awkward stage presence, huge sexy voice, fantastic songs.

In the past couple of weeks I've acquired a lot of new music. Although my purse is supposed to be more-or-less closed, I keep stumbling across things like a magical sale shelf in the country section with 'Strange Country' compilations and all Alison Krauss' back catalogue discounted; someone hassling me to move on to Scott Walker's 4th solo album; then another of Lucinda's (West) and Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes, both too cheap to leave behind. Before I'd had time to digest much of that, a good friend gave me his duplicate copies of a couple of tasty morsels: The Walker Brothers and Dead can dance. Oof. Meanwhile, Neko Case's delicious new album hasn't been out of the CD player since K brought it home a couple of weeks. I feel like hibernating.

It was so good that we got bored

You might just want to skim or skip this post if you've seen and heard enough from me about this year's Womadelaide festival. I hadn't yet reflected on the music this time around, and I like being able to look back on posts like this later on. So here are my micro-reviews of most of the artists I saw and heard during the weekend.

Arte Kanela - flamenco music and dancing. Show-offy fun.

Andi & George Band - we turned up at the end of their Friday night show. I had heard the buzz about this large, fluid Canberra group, but had never seen or heard them. We really enjoyed their range of mostly upbeat reggae, soul, and roots-influenced music. Unfortunately they are finishing up as a band (I gather George had already made his exit) - we also went along to their final show on the Sunday night. There were about 14 or 15 people on a small stage looking like they were having the best time ever. Towards the end they found room for a bunch of Canberra groupies to dance around on stage as well. It could have felt cliquey but instead it just felt like the party expanded to include the whole crowd.

Ska Cubano - interesting idea, though I didn't fully get into it - an innovative combination of Jamaican ska and Cuban mambo music.

Paprika Balkanicus - gypsy music Balkan-style, with members from Romania, Slovenia and Serbia. I like my gypsy music any way I can get it; in this case the fiddle count was low - only one, but smokin' - yet there WERE two accordions, yay. Youngish guys with a slightly wack sense of humour.

Lo Cor de la Plana - a big highlight, six blokes from Marseilles singing beautiful harmonies accompanied only by hand claps and hand held drums/tambourines. My rudimentary French skills were not a lot of use, as their thing is to revitalise songs from the ancient Occitan culture and language. Oh and their jokes and comments between songs were about as dirty as their singing was angelic.

Rachel Unthank & the Winterset - another favourite, Geordie folk music. One of our crew is always seeking Celtic music, and this was the closest she got this time around. We all loved the Unthanks, very cool girls with beautiful voices, providing translations of dialect where necessary, and judicious use of the 'safety cardigan' - worn over a strappy dress to avoid wardrobe malfunctions during vigorous clog dancing.

Speed Caravan - Algerian Mehdi Haddab plays his oud electric, we loved it, went back for more. The one in our group who normally likes his music heavy found most satisfaction here of all the womad acts.

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara trio - Justin Adams is a guitarist who works with Robert Plant, I knew his name from the Festival in the Desert CD (how much would I love to go to that festival?). He has teamed up with Gambian griot Juldeh Camara who plays the ritti, a one-stringed fiddle. That's him in picture at the top of the page. I loved this show, bought the album, got it signed.*

A workshop with the Andi & George girls - the three female singers were down for a workshop session - in this case they just took turns playing and singing their own songs, handing one guitar back and forth, and sometimes providing harmonies for each other. An absolutely lovely, intimate show, some great songs, and lots of love for Andi who is fairly new to the game herself but obviously a real encourager for others to give it a go. All very warming for the heart's cockles.

Black Jesus Experience - Australian based fusion group with Ethiopian and other African singers - good fun times.

Kaki King - she does a lot of different things with guitars, which I found interesting, cool, densely layered, and inexplicable by turns. She has serious pretty rock cred, and is obsessed with Australian netball players - it must be the appeal of tall athletic girls in skirts (else why wouldn't the basketball players in her native US thrill her so?).

Neil Finn - with his sons Liam and Elroy. Liam looked like he was having the most fun. It was a great show including songs from all parts of Neil's catalogue; I would have liked to hear a Liam song included (unless there was one and I missed it?)

* I actually went away from this signing a little bit (ridiculously) introspective about whether lining up to get something signed and telling the person "gee I really loved your show/book/whatever" is actually a nice opportunity or just a dispiriting failure to make a real human connection. This is a continuation of an ongoing conversation with myself. See I have this fantasy self who is outgoing and can actually make interesting connections with artists who mean something to me. And, you know, that fantasy self is not actually ME (a classic introvert).

Although we're wearing different faces, nobody wants to hide

I've put a whole lot of last weekend's Womadelaide photos in a Flickr set, including more flags and bright blue skies for people who like that sort of thing. Hope you enjoy.

In a comment on my last post Tara said she was reminded of playing in the roots of those enormous Moreton Bay Figs, pretending the gaps between the roots were rooms of a house and sweeping them with branches with leaves on them. I like that story. Actually I would like to live in that kind of house, if the scale was right! When we were kids we had friends down the street who had a tree with a big hole in it where fairies lived, we were quite sure. We used to leave food for them.


The Mobile Sewing Company, from the Netherlands, have sewing machines attached to the back of two bikes. People offer the clothes off their backs for creative alteration. To get this done they need to pedal the bike for a while, to power the sewing machine. So clever and fun.

On Sunday evening I was waiting in a line for food I had ordered, and there was a man ahead of me in the queue who had a Womadelaide t-shirt that he had obviously had embellished by the Mobile Sewing Company. I am still kicking myself for not asking if I could take a photo. I'm not always brave or outgoing enough.

Osadia have been at the festival before. I think they were there my first year (2005), but I hadn't actually seen them working. Imagine loud techno music and a small, rapt crowd watching intently.
.

Ain't you happy that we're all together?

I'm just back from Adelaide tonight. It was a much better festival experience than last year's Womadelaide (ie, free of any intestinal distress).

Here are some Finns - Neil, Liam and Elroy - in their accustomed habitat. They seemed very happy there. I enjoyed their antics.

Boys and things that come by the dozen

Last week we were lucky enough to have free tickets to see the Black Crowes at the Royal Theatre. Good show, not the music that gives me the greatest thrill but they are pretty good at what they do. The drum solo certainly could have been a good 10 minutes shorter.

Though I've never been there I know it's always greener

I've put up a set of photos from V festival 2008 in Flickr. I haven't managed to find a new angle for festival/gig photography yet. Shots of the big screens are still keeping me amused.


We spent a shorter day at the festival this year. We arrived about 3ish and the whole thing was over earlier this year, all done by about 10pm.

When we arrived, Cut Copy had a huge crowd (huge considering the early hour) bouncing wildly. They sounded pretty good but we went wandering. We ended up mostly seeing halves of various sets.

First I sought out Modest Mouse because of the allure of Johnny Marr - but they were disappointing. So we quit early and moved on to Roisin Murphy, who sang that huge hit for Moloko 'Bring it back'. None of her solo work is quite as catchy but she has a great voice and I enjoyed it, including her crazy hat - a cross between a formal hat and a Devo flowerpot.

Then there was The Jesus and Mary Chain - great music, although not particularly animated musicians. Yes they used to be famous for some kind of mayhem though, it appears, from the fans as much as the band. I know it's kind of the wrong way around but I was just staring at the screen thinking it's Christian Slater! The sunnies, the hairline?

I was keen to see Air, and we tried them for a while. But the crowd was just wrong. I couldn't get into the music for all the loud talking of the people around us. It didn't help that it started raining lightly. Apparently they were doing a show at the Opera House, and I think that would have been a much better way to enjoy this kind of atmospheric and sometimes quiet music.

Queens of the Stone Age was the main act of the day for K, and this was the only full set we saw. Once again the festival crowd made things less than ideal, and strangely the sound was not turned up nearly as loud as it had been for JMC and others on the same stage. With this kind of band you DON'T expect people talking near you to be a problem! Regardless, I really enjoyed the set, and now I think I would go and see them if they tour again.

We arrived at Duran Duran's show halfway through and struggled through the unfamiliar mid-section of the set until they returned to the greatest hits catalogue. I don't know if it is just his stage persona but Simon Le Bon is pure ego. Kind of fantastic, and repulsive at the same time. As a lead-in to playing Girls on film he did this whole bit about having met with the 'Chief of Police' before they came out that night and ascertained that it 'if any girls wanted to take their tops off, that would be ok'. Sigh. And with one camera trained on the crowd, a few pairs did bounce onto the screen throughout the rest of the show. Also during Girls on film, Simon introduced band members one-by-one in suitably over-the-top fashion. Finally, with finger to his lips he shushed the crowd, paused, and yelled at the top of his voice, 'What's my name?!!!'. Like I said, pure ego.

Finally we wandered off to catch a bit of the Smashing Pumpkins. I did love the long skirt that Billy Corgan was wearing. They played the Star-Spangled Banner which seemed a bit misguided while touring Australia. It might have made sense if it then morphed into Waltzing Matilda, but no dice. After that we heard only the end of the Presets last song, and it was time to go. Overall we felt a bit flat about it after the huge highlight of last year. I'm happy though, to have seen bands like Duran Duran and the Jesus and Mary Chain. And of course QOTSA.

Edited to add: I found a couple of pics showing Billy Corgan's long, tiered, metallic skirt. Though it didn't look as shiny as that from where I was sitting.

Can we meet on the street, maybe tomorrow?

Last week my sister and I took an overnight trip to Sydney to see Suzanne Vega at Star City Casino. She did NOT disappoint. I enjoyed the show a lot; but it was a dream come true for my sis. Suzanne had a four-piece band with her, including (apparently) a guitarist who comes from Canberra. They were good, but the songs I liked best were the ones she sang accompanied only by her own acoustic guitar and/or the bass player.

We also packed in a few other activities during our two days.


"Dissecting probe, stat!" We admired Ikea's creative demonstration of possible uses for these drawers.

Near our hotel, this carpark behind the preserved facade of an old building caught my attention... especially the lighting on the trees showing through the openings.

So I took about fifty equally blurry photos of the scene.

The next day we managed to get up early-ish. Some shopping/browsing (Queen Victoria Building for her, Tapestry Craft for me), then a walk down to the art gallery to check out a wonderful August Sander exhibition. As we wandered at a leisurely pace through the Domain, it was packed with runners, soccer players, footy-kickers, and boot-campers sweating their way through the lunch hour.

We headed down to Circular Quay and picked a destination: Balmain because neither of us had been there before. It was a short, pleasant ferry ride and then a long walk up an enormous hill to get to the main street. There we rewarded ourselves with an large, delicious sushi lunch. This picture shows only half of the food we ordered.







We had to take a longer ferry route to get back. It was a bit overcast and my photos mostly sucked. I really didn't get any that do justice to the magnificent Sydney Harbour.

We agreed that it wouldn't suck to live in one of these places.

It does suck to do without buses and trains. I think this was near Birkenhead point. I don't know who exactly is protesting, though.

Update: Rose Red kindly explained in the comments that The NSW Roads & Traffic Authority want to widen Victoria Road (the road that leads onto the bridge in the photo, the Iron Cove bridge) and also maybe build another bridge beside that one. This will just move the bottleneck of traffic to a point further down the road. Which is why residents want more buses and trains, and even ferries.

There is always more to say

Nick Seymour

Neil Finn

There were two support acts for Crowded House, and we arrived to hear only the last couple of songs from The Walls, a band from Dublin. As soon as the house lights came up I pulled out my knitting. I had managed to cast on the toe for a second sock earlier in the evening, at a cafe while waiting for my pizza to arrive. I don't always carry knitting, it depends what I'm working on, plus some social situations suit it better than others. Luckily DJZ is pretty sympathetic. And these socks are going to my sister, who, while we were living it up, was staying at my house to look after the dogs. Dogs who are used to sleeping on the bed and who complain loudly if they are excluded (I know, I know). So I was quite motivated to churn out this sock.

The guy sitting next to me was puzzled at all the sticks and asked "is that knitting?" I usually hate small talk but somehow continuing to knit made it easier to do the right thing and chat a bit - have you seen Crowded House before, that kind of thing. It seems strange, maybe even sad, when you think about it, to be in a big room elbow-by-elbow with all these people who know and love the same music, and yet not connect with any of them. I don't tend to chat with or seek to meet new people much, but sometimes I do feel bad about it and I often ponder these sorts of things. I really value my privacy and my own headspace. When you're in a confined space for an extended time it can be a big risk to make contact - what if it turns out to be annoying? Dangerous? Just tiring? Or even, what if you really like them, and then at the end of the event you just leave, like you never met?

(I'm really risk averse, can you tell?)

This conversation was benign enough. Except for when the lights went out for the main event and he said in an obnoxious sing-songy voice: "You'll have to stop knitting now!" Really? Sheesh.

The second support was Augie March. Earlier this year I saw them at Womadelaide (twice, actually - sis is a bit of a fan) and I noted a little sneery rock star attitude which put me offside a bit. It was something about playing their huge hit "One crowded hour". This time it couldn't have been more different. They were clearly nervous, and hugely honoured to be supporting Crowded House on a big stadium tour. This was a little surprising from a band that has been around so long, but perhaps that's why they're so keen for bigger/more mainstream exposure. Unless it was very successful sarcasm and I missed it. Don't think so. Anyway I still think they're pretty interesting and really should borrow a CD or two from sis.

Finally, here's the set list grabbed from this thread

Private universe
World where you live
Dont stop now
Fall at your feet
Whispers & moans
English trees
Heaven that I'm making
Love you till the day I die
Silent house
Dont dream it's over
Pour le monde
Walked her way down
When you come
Distant sun

ENCORE -
Locked out
Something so strong
Weather with you

ENCORE 2 -
Four Seasons in one day
Italian plastic
Better be home soon

Blurry Arty Neil Finn

And somebody beside you slipped your head inside the crown

Ooh, I saw Crowded House at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Monday night; the first Australian show of their reunion tour. And I feel like I almost owe an apology to all the people I talked to beforehand when I was playing it cool. I thought I was happy enough to go but not really that fussed. I was wrong. Damn they were awesome and I love those guys.

I couldn't really understand why they had reformed after so much time, and after Paul's death two years ago. The new album was underwhelming at first, but had grown on me. I was also maybe a little bit too familiar with the album versions of all their old hits. I hadn't listened to the live album in ages, and forgot how great they are live (still; again). Of course Paul leaves big goofy shoes to fill, but having seen the show, I can't begrudge the guys another go as a band.

Our seats were right around the side of the stage. It was a much better view than being way up high; the only disadvantage was that one ear/side of the head gets noise-blasted disproportionately. Of course there were big crowd sing-alongs for 'Don't dream it's over' and 'Better be home soon'. I think my faves were 'Whispers and Moans' and 'Italian Plastic'.... oh and lots of others. Sadly no 'Sister Madly' though. After about the second song I leaned over to DJZ sitting next to me and predicted there would be two encores. I was right. (not that hard).

Downloads from US leg of the tour are available here. I hope they'll do the same for the Australian tour as well.

The thought of you stays bright

The V festival - for anyone just joining us, it was Saturday 31 March in Sydney's Centennial Park - had the Pet Shop Boys (8:30 to 9:45pm) and the Pixies (9 to 10:15pm) each headlining on adjacent stages. We had been hoping that the stage the Pixies were on might be running late relative to the other one. Unfortunately it turned out the other way, so that the Pixies started soon after PSB, and throughout at least the first half of their set, the crowd thinned a bit as people split the difference and headed off to the Pixies. Of course in-between (and sometimes during) PSB songs you could actually hear the Pixies - the stages were too close together. We were pretty sure we wanted to stay with PSB but had made a meeting place for the end of the night, so that we didn't have to be tied to each other and could decide to split up if necessary. Just a few songs in, we were both set on staying to the end.



The thrill of this show was only partly about the live performance of the songs. Neil's singing was certainly real, he actually started a bit rough but seemed to warm into it, plus there were three backing singers, two men and a woman, and of course Chris on keyboards. When they did Paninaro, everyone else left the stage and Chris actually sang. Obviously a large proportion of the sounds you hear are pre-recorded. But hey, it's not a rock show.

Neil was charming and slightly rogueish, an old-school entertainer. Early on he announced the names of the songs, sometimes before performing them. Or: 'We'd like to play you a love song now.' (Rent).

It was a complete musical show, with break dancing, video projections, costume changes and props. I don't think there was any attempt for these to be the highest-tech or most complicated. Even though there was a lot going on, there was also a sort of bright, stark look about the stage, with simple repeated themes in the costume and props. There were many costume changes for the backing singers and dancers, and even three or four for Neil, but they were all variations on a just couple of themes. There were lots of matching tracksuits, matching suits, then a bit where one dancer has tracksuit top and suit pants, the other the reverse.



The coolest theme was the way they played with their own images, with Chris's signature look of yellow hoodie and baseball cap, and Neil's of top hat and tails, repeated amongst the other performers (eg yellow sequinned hoodies for the dancers). At the very start of the show, a guy in a hoodie and one in a top hat come out. Crowd goes mad for Neil and Chris. Then another pair appear dressed the same! Ooh, what's going on? Finally the real Neil and Chris appear. I'm sure it's been done before, but it was fun.



The Sodom and Gomorrah show, a song from their most recent album, was almost a separate performance in itself. They actually brought out a drummer with full kit just for that one song. Unfortunately the evidence is hidden behind Mr Bighead in the above photo. All the performers except Chris appeared to have a separate costume just for this song.

After the final song of the encore, Neil thanked Sydney for a warm reception. And make no mistake, despite what I said about people leaving for the Pixies, there was a large, enthusiastic audience who were hanging on every note. He introduced each of the people on the stage, finishing with '...of course Chris Lowe on keyboards. I am Neil Tennant, and we are still the Pet Shop Boys.' At that they left the stage, leaving only the three backing singers who continued with a medley of So Hard, I'm with stupid and (I think) Robbie Williams' We're the Pet Shop Boys. The female singer in particular was A-Mazing - one of those huge soul voices - Neil is brave to share a stage with her! I wanted to hear her more.

After it was over we wandered over to the back of the Pixies audience and caught the last three or so songs. It was a serious mood shift but still pretty good, actually a nice wind-down for the night. I know I could have really gotten into their show too. But I started out with much more curiosity about PSB live than the Pixies. And also much more knowledge of and love for their music. Although it was momentous having the Pixies in the country for the first time, we have seen their live sets on ABC2 a couple of times and knew what to expect. The Pet Shop Boys put on more of a show than I had dared to expect. We loved it.

Can you even deliver what she demands of you?

They played:

Left to my own devices
Suburbia
Can you forgive her?
Rent
Heart
Opportunities (Let's make lots of money)
Integral
Paninaro
Se a vida e
Domino dancing
Always on my mind
Where the streets have no name
West end girls
The Sodom and Gomarrah show
Encore: So hard / It's a sin / Go west