You Can't Go Home Again

It's nearing the end of the year.

Which is when in television you get an extended [unpaid] holiday.

I'm thinking I might take this opportunity to have a crazy big adventure.

And in order to get the whole planning process flowing I thought I'd track it musically.

I might start here:

And then go here for some fun party-times:

Before heading North of the Boarder for some further inspiration:

And even though Randy Newman warns against it -

I have to agree with Ryan Adams, I Love New York.

So I'll have to also go there....

Just Passing Through

Months ago I was talking about the Live Local project that the folks at Digital Eskimo have launched.

Basically it's about the idea of shifting your focus, reconsidering how you live and the impact it has on the environment and the world around you more generally...

Well I finally finished my documentary for Radio National about it. It's available online for a month here. Or you can tune in to RN this coming Wednesday at 1pm EST to hear it repeated.

Summer Band Camp

Here are the highlights from Parklife 2009 that I was mentioning before... more to come soon.

Nobody Lost, Nobody Found

Here's a little bit of on-stage action that EROL ALKAN shared on twitter, from Radelaide Parklife...

There are a bunch of pretty incredible tours on the horizon, but right now I’m still recovering from the brilliance and crazy fun-times that was Parklife. I had the immense fun of interviewing the lion’s share of artists on the bill, the fruits from which’ll be on the internetz shortly. But in the meantime, here are some things I learnt this weekend and some gems that made me LOL.

TIGA doesn't have facebook and generally prefers to communicate via fax[!] He also loves talking. His favourite thing is having a captive audience. Apparently buses are best. But planes are pretty good too....

There was a hilarious moment when I was interviewing Tiga and Jesse from MSTRKFT interrupted. They proceeded to have a random conversation, within which Tiga asked when was the precise moment MSTRKRFT decided to drop the vowels from their name – and said he was thinking of calling himself TG. Around that time BUSY P and A-TRAK decided to crash the party and the whole thing became a fascinating group interview session. Tiga revealed that Funky Town is one of his favourite songs. And that Michael Hutchence is his favourite Australian artists. A-trak gave props to Bag Raiders and Busy P said he liked Midnight Juggernauts and Wolfmother. When Pedro said their names it was more like ‘idnigh yuggernaut’ and ‘oolfmother’ – which just made the whole thing even funnier and more charming...

METRONOMY didn’t consider the side-effects when they developed their current on-stage outfits kitted with lights. They’ve had to deal with some serious moth-action. They’re also getting tired, and are thinking that the next album should be slow ballads, so they can sit down and sing.

Jeremy from JUNIOR BOYS likes Steely Dan. So listen out for those influences in their next album, they’re going back into the studio shortly.

The English folks on the tour were all into soccer [football!] and pretty much all of the Europeans wore boat shoes /loafers.

A-TRAK was deeply touched by his experience of working with HEAPS DECENT – so watch out for expansions on that front. He was also cheekily challenging everyone to go on the big ride – the one that looks like a ball that drops from really high? He asked Pedro [Busy P] and Tiga but then said they were scared. In the end Stephen from Aeroplane went with him.

Finally, what’s with music dudes who wear white trainers – even though it was hella muddy? After the show before heading out to party a couple of folks had to make a pit stops at the hotel to restore the white, and carry spare laces cause that’s the part that’s hardest to clean, but easiest to replace.

Feel It All Around

Washed Out is pretty much my favourite band of the minute. Although I'm not 100% sure that it's a band band so to speak. I think it's pretty much the project of one dude in his bedroom.

The story goes that it's a project for a dude from Georgia called Ernest Greene. He spent a couple of months in his bedroom making dreamy sounds - which are on his debut EP Life of Leisure. You can read more about him and the making of the record here.

This is an un-official video of Feel It All Around, all gorgeous sepia tones and late afternoon summertime fun.

FEEL IT ALL AROUND from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

Stand up and be counted - Save the Hopetoun

Some shocking news this afternoon - one of Sydney's most important live music venues, The Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills has had to shut it's doors until further notice.

Here's the rub:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=142845142317

So the Hopetoun Hotel has closed until further notice which is terrible for the Sydney and Australian independent music scene. Putting it simply, we need to save the Hopetoun Hotel

In the past it has played host to almost all great Australian bands including Dappled Cities, Youth Group, Pivot, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Decoder Ring, Bluejuice, Kes Band, Crayon Fields, Jack Ladder, Charge Group, Grey Daturas, Fabulous Diamonds, Spod, The Laurels, Tucker B's, Des Miller, Seekae, Ghosts of Television, Sui Zhen, Clue to Kalo, Ned Collette, The Lucksmiths, Darren Hanlon, The John Steel Singers, Beaches and so so many others.

In addition, great international musicians such as Beach House, Jens Lekman, Feist, Xiu Xiu, Jeremy Jay, Bachelorette, Malcolm Middleton, Jeffrey Lewis, The Tallest Man on Earth, Smog, David Kilgour, The Ruby Suns, The Brunettes, The Bats, Jason Molina, Spoon, Okkervil River, M. Ward and Robert Schneider have all played there.

Don't let Sydney lose a major cultural institution. Save The Hopetoun.

A nice facebook brainstorm for some realistic ways that people can save the Hopetoun would be awesome.
As this group is already showing, there is an immense amount of love for the Hopetoun from all over Sydney and beyond. Let's try to channel it into something practical and effective.

As far as we know, the reasons for closure are the follow:
- Money
- Years of having no security at a licensed venue
- Cost of repairs to the building
- Not being able to sell the building
- Money
- Money

Jack Shit sez:
- council requires 2 licensed security guards when the bands are playing (security guards were there for the first time on weekend)
- Ongoing issues with noise
- Facilitate disabled
- Sprinklers (fire)

TWITTER US: @savethehoey

--

An email courtesy of Tim Appleby:
Send to cmoore@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au and council@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

It has been brought to our attention that the beloved Hopetoun Hotel on the corner of Bourke and Fitzroy Sts in Surry Hills has been closed until further notice. A terribly disappointing fact considering the Council's seemingly strong commitment to the arts and local music community. I ask that you provide the community at large with a detailed analysis of the situation including a list of what needs to be done to rectify any current problems. I understand the venue has been operating outside of normal venue restrictions however I know the community would be more than happy to assist in its compliance. In saying that, the venue has operated similarly for decades without any major problems.

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. The City of Sydney's music scene would suffer a great loss without this legendary venue.

Kind Regards
xx

I wish I had a pizza and a bottle of wine...

I KNOW. It's been FOREVER since I wrote.

I keep on having these good ideas or observations for a post but then never seem to get the chance to sit and write.

There's been a lotta stuff happening. It's been a particularly busy few months. But more on that later, soon.

In the mean-time here's perhaps my number one amazing favourite song right now and the two equally cool video clips that go with it. I can't stop listening to this song and watching these videos. Like, repeatedly. Every day. Both videos have their charms but the official one makes me want to pack up and head to San Francisco...

RADelaide

Adelaide. City of churches, serial killers, amazing food, memories, haighs chocolate, apparently has more lotto winners than any other city in Australia...

There are many things Adelaide is famous for but in my mind it's now going to be synonymous with Bob Ellis being LOL. I was in RADelaide for The Festival of Ideas last week - and the highlight of the whole experience [apart from the Pedro Ximenez braised beef cheeks at Mesa Lunga tapas - ahh, I'm a total sucker for the black gold!] and the incredible meal at Chianti Classico was Bob Ellis getting up and asking a hilarious question of English scientist Simon Singh, who's recently written an book examining alternative medicine like acupuncture and chiropracture. [Simon wasn't very favourable in his view of these practises.]

... Anyways, after a long and rigorous discussion about the science and health claims of alternative medicine Uncle Bob [who was wearing slippers during the day] got up and announced to the room that he's been a long advocate for such alternative remedies, and most recently has found they've helped him with impotence, and curing his dog's sore hip.

Everyone in the room laughed, but poor Simon had no idea who Bob was. He was a bit stunned. Perhaps a bit too familiar, Bob? Maybe too much information.

Kindness of Strangers

It's been a long few weeks. Getting everything together for Still Life was really freakin busy. Good fun, without doubt. But a LOT of work. A lot of long hours, late-nights, working all weekends... But in the whole process I also had my faith in humanity restored.

Sometimes people really are just excellent. I came up with the hair-brained idea and then suddenly people were offering all these amazing things to make it happen. All the artists donated their work. All the galleries waived their fees and donated their commissions. We had two amazing framers offer to frame the precious pieces - for love and glory. Because they love the station and what it stands for, and even though they don't have a lot of money, they were donating the physical goods which cost them money, not to mention their time. And even though we didn't have a lot of lead-time, the word seems to be spread. People turned up, had fun, spent money!

And somehow at the end of it we still had beer left-over. Unheard of! The bar staff were sure we'd run out within the first hour. I mean, it was a Friday night, a show full of artists and the beer was both Coopers and FREE. Crazy.

And so the wash-up was that it was a huge success. The whole process towards the end felt a little bit like 200 cigarettes - I was fretting that no-one would come but instead it turned out to be the party of the week.

Still Life

Ok, so this is what I've been doing for the past few weeks... come along? Tell your friends!