In the Spring, I'm going to be appearing at This is Not Art Festival, in Newcastle, New South Wales. The event is dedicated to showcasing NEW, independant sounds/thoughts/images/ideas. I don't yet know when/where I'm playing, but the festival runs from October 1st-5th. And you can camp there! My friends Jack Cowell & the Owls will also be playing.
Anyone for a ROAD TRIP ?! It could be a brilliant adventure.
On Friday night I went the Gaelic Theatre (for the first time in around three years -last time I went there it was still the Gaelic CLUB) to see my dad play. The band is called X. They had quite the cult following in Melbourne/Sydney back in the 80s. During the show, some old rocker in the audience turned to me and said that "us kids" will never understand the power of X, and what they meant back in the day etc. I found this sentiment kind of pointless - it's not my fault I was only born in 1990! Naturally, I retaliated with my daughter-of-the-lead-singer trump card.
And anyway, us kids have youtube.
Behold, cover of the week! X doing Roy Orbison. NOTE: My dad's amazing 80s hair/shirt/drag-dressing.
I found this clip the other day when I was thinking about songs that would be nice at a wedding. It's like Nick Cave's attempt at a Disney movie. You can almost picture the Jamaican lobster from 'the Little Mermaid' singing it, "Kiss the Girl" style. Still, it's a beautiful song.
Yesterday I went to the wedding of a friend I used to work with. In our days at work together, we always used to play each other new mix cds and talk about music, and boys. That is, until her engagement and talk turned to wedding plans. I don't think I was very helpful then - all I seemed to do was listen and say, "I don't know! I'm nineteen, I've really never thought about my hypothetical wedding cake/dress/music." It all ended happily ever after, though. She walked down to "The Book of Love" by the Magnetic Fields. It was a beautiful ceremony.
The moral to this story really is that all this sparked a conversation about how certain songs become significant in life etc. I don't know what music I would play at my wedding or funeral - I've tried, but can't get anything relevant/personal/interesting/ironic enough. I do know that the first lyric I learned was "Hey Joe! Where you going with that gun in your hand?!" Apparently I used to yell it across the fence to my Uncle Jo, who lived next door when I was little. Despite that, I fell for sad and melencholy music a few years later. My mum says that when I was about three or four I was obsessed with brooding to Leonard Cohen, and used to demand that Ian Rilen play me 'So Long Marianne' on guitar, to which I would dance around the living room... So I guess my romantic/melencholy tendancies began before I can even remember. I blame my parents.
(Why that version is set to a really ancient 'Jack and the Beanstalk' movie is beyond me. But it's kind of amazing in it's mystery.')
Here is a clip for 'Daughters of the SoHo Riots' by the National. Like I said, the deep baritone makes me weak in the knees. I recently found a version of a song called 'Sleep all Summer' by the National and St Vincent, as a kind of duet. Sigh. Wish it could've been me.
If you enjoy this blog and/or want to know all my secrets, check out Fbi's Local Fidelity blog. I did an interview for the show's lovely presenter a few weeks ago. You can read it here: http://localfidelity.blogspot.com/2009/07/casual-end-mile-sydney.html For the program, tune into 94.5 FM on Sunday evenings, from 7-9 pm. It's full of special treasures, of the new Australian music kind.
I played at the Hopetoun Hotel tonight. The stage was still a little glittery from Bridezilla "capturing the sun" last night. What a wonderful show they played too! I got to hear all my favourties, new & old. Tonight was a lot more low key. For a start, there were no glow sticks, or party hats. I played a couple of new songs, including a stripped down version of one I recorded with little Ms. Pia May a few weeks ago. It wasn't the same without her. The better, duet-and-ukulele-solo version can be heard here: http://www.myspace.com/piamayandmadelaine Neither of my usual amazing photographer friends were there, so I have no pictures or anything for those who missed out. However, my lovely friend Belle took this photo at a show I played at the Hollywood a month or so ago and it's pretty cool I feel:
Hopefully more shows will be on the horizon soon, and everyone can come and party to bittersweet folk music. BYO glow sticks. x
