Vacant Mind » melbourne

School packed train

Renwick — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:48:21 +0000

It’s raining I’m at the station waiting for a train which has just been cancelled. It’s cold, bitterly cold, coldest day so far for the year. I look up and down the platform and see a thinly spread group of people I think to myself ‘this doesn’t seem to bad, there aren’t that many people, I should be OK for a seat’. Time slips by and more and more potential passengers arrive and platfrom begins to fill and my previous thoughts of a seat or even a spacious ride begin to look doubtful.

I keep forgetting that this is the about the time that seemily millions of school children also board the train. The train arrives, the rain is coming down and the wind is blowing.

We board the train, I find a spot where I can stand, get my book out and begin to read, as we pass station after station it becomes apparent that the previously cancelled train has begun to take it’s tool

A women turns a head, another gets a faceful of hair, a man tries to read with another persons’ hand in front of their face holding onto the bar, eveyone contends with school kids and their backpacks being thrown around as theyswish around like water as the train makes it’s journey.

The train is full again and we are all uncomfortable.

The story of 3 train lines

Renwick — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:14:19 +0000

I have had the fortunate ability to have traveled on 3 (possibly 5) different train lines.

Glen Waverley
Belgrave/Lilydale
Carnbourne/Packenham

They are listed by the way in order of the one that I want to travel. I have always used the Glen Waverley line because it was closet to home, but recently I’ve had the chance to house sit closer to two different train lines.

Our train systems really are a mess, when at 6.30am there should be a minimal number of people it was standing room only. I know which line I won’ t be eventually living near (Carnbourne/Packenham) I thought that it was hard on the Glen Waverley, hardly ever express, doesn’t come often though and over crowding on somedays.

I have previously heard of the Public Transport User Association, but now I’m seriously considering joining and helping where I can. I know that Connex has started to bring in changes I just hope that they will work as effectively as Melbourne desperately needs the change.

I can’t tell you the tension in the train some morning (actually most of you might know what I’m talking about) and it would be great to have a normal train ride one day.

6 Links

Renwick — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:31:02 +0000

Close to the corner of Swanston Street and Little Flinders it’s a nice basement bar which some great furniture and good selection of drinks with carlton draught, asahi, pure blonde on tap.

To be honest the seating isn’t that great, it’s a little to much form over function but there is enough standing room for it to not matter too much.

I didn’t have a camera this night, but they have a website at http://www.6links.com.au/ which has better pictures.
From what I have heard is that the drinks are set at a good price and it doesn’t get too crowded, a good combination.

Melbourne Comedy Festival

Renwick — Sun, 06 May 2007 09:34:47 +0000

As last year the Melbourne International Comedy Festival rolled around again, and similar to last year I decided to see a few shows. While I’m not really a reviewer of sorts I will give you my best recollection and thoughts about the gigs that I did see.

Charlie Pickering
Surprisingly not as funny as last year I’m uncertain if it was because I saw him on the first night of his show and didn’t really quite have the time to build up the audience. The content was good though with a little bit of a side step while he was having a discussion with himself when he was younger and a imaginary fence post digger with a French accent – that was an interesting couple of minutes.

There was some good solid laughs and he was pretty committed to his act which was even better to see, I’ve seen acts who seem to get a little disappointed when the crowd isn’t laughing and they seem to falter. None of that with Pickering.

It was a good show but not the best that I have seen (or will as you read on)

Comedy Short Films
Probably the low point for me in the festival for two reasons. The actual films that I saw (first 40 minutes) I didn’t really go with anyone.
Not much else to say really

Adam Hills
I had wanted to see Adam Hills last year and my growing love for Spicks and Specks made the decision to again go it alone easier. The show was everything that I thought that it would be according to The Groggy Squirrel while he was actually quite funny and yes the sign interpreter was also very funny. I found his references to weird notion of rules and bureaucracy sometimes a little late to the laughter but otherwise spot on.

Worth it

Daniel Kitsen
For me this would have to be the highlight of the festival.
My only knowledge of Daniel where videos from past festivals and little bits of pieces that I had seen of him and the impression that I got was someone who swore a lot and seemed a little lot a lot of time. So I went in not excepting much but I wanted to see something different and was willing to take a punt on him.
I was pleasantly surprised by the whole show, it was the most intelligent comedy that I have every heard from the why he started by addressing the crowd and smoothly taking off his jacket and placing it on the stool next to him to the way he placed it back on at the end of the show.
While recollections of his life and experiences are a plenty in the show, he often goes off into tangents that seem irrelevant but tremendously funny

Tim Minchin
Again another stand out from last year that I had not really seen, I had seen him on TV and various specials during the preceding months so I did expect quite a bit. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t all song and dance he interacted with a crowd quite a bit (which is what most good comics do – although Daniel Kitsen didn’t much) and although some of his verbal jokes I had heard before it was his delivery that stood out the most from everyone else that I had seen.
His dark humor isn’t only funny but entertaining is the way that he looks at certain aspects of life and love.
The canvas bag song that he played at the end, I’m sure that everyone in the audience had heard before but it was his commitment to the delivery that I liked about it, although I did keep looking up hoping that canvas bags where going to fall from the celling.
They were selling his merchandise after the show, which included, shirts, a CD and of course canvas bags.

Good fun.

That’s pretty much all I saw for the comedy festival, I think that 4 shows tends to be a good number, I didn’t really take a punt this year, I kept the ones that I saw fairly safe. I might try a few different shows next year.

Sarah Blasko

Renwick — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:42:54 +0000

Went and saw Sarah Blasko at the Forum Theatre in the city, just in case anyone doesn’t know it’s probably one of the best if not the best live music venue I have ever been. The acoustics are so much better than anywhere else including the Prince of Wales in St. Kilda and there is ample standing and seating room unlike the Hi Fi Bar the only other place that might come close would have to be the Corner Hotel and the Northcote Social Club if only it was bigger. Then again I’m no expert I haven’t been to that many venues.

But back to the task at hand, honestly I have only listened to her most recent release a couple of times and remember her first The Overture & The Underscore (2004) & What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have (2006) – (warning music will play when links are clicked)

She has an amazing vocal range for someone of her size, I didn’t really expect to hear that much sound and clarity come out of her and again I was extremely pleased (as I seem to be with all good Aussie acts) to notice that there was negligible difference between the way her album sounded and the live sound. Of course they might have played a few songs differently and the instruments might have been been of a different tune…you know what I mean…what you hear is what you get, nothing better than that.

I managed to get a few photos, although they weren’t very good and most of the time quite out of focus, but I hope that you will get the idea anyway.

Stern(8,g)

Taking Photos

Renwick — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:55:41 +0000

Have you ever thought that everyone is looking at you?
I know it’s stupid but I can’t help it, for some reason it’s a natural reaction for me most of the time for some s, granted I was doing something at the time.

I was in the city today taking photos, not for any great reason but I thought while I was there I might take a few for the photo-a-day experiment that I am trying to do, I was around the AXA building and there is a statue of John Batman which looked kinda interesting as I was walking past (at 7:30 am which is another story) and decided that it was a good chance to take a photo.

I pulled the camera (I carry it with me everywhere) out and looked around to see if anyone was watching or if there were a suitable number of cars going past so that no one would notice.

Why should I fear? I had done the same thing numerous times overseas and there is no reason to suspect that I wouldn’t look like a tourist, I don’t think that it is the fact that someone would stop me and ask me what I was doing, but more along the lines of they would simply think that I was doing something dodgy would be enough for me to think twice.

I took the photos anyway, a bit rushed, but taken and not the best either but as soon as I put the camera away low and behold a pair of Asian tourists walked past, camera and map in tow, so there really is no doubt to think that there wouldn’t be tourist in our great city let alone that time of the morning.

So instead of walking around the city and taking photos like I wanted to do, I am sitting at the Star Bucks opposite the AXA building typing out a post watching the city slowly come alive and thinking about how much harder it will be to get home.

Napier Hotel

Renwick — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 05:55:24 +0000

Helped a friend move house on the weekend and as much as this troubled me I did get to experience a new eatery.

I reckon that the Fitzroy area provides some pretty good feeds for your money and the The Napier Hotel is no exception, located in the back streets of Fitzroy opposite the town hall we were able to take a leisurely stroll on a very balmy night.

Walking in you are greeted with a cosy social area to the right and left while walking ahead you get to the outside area, which is where we had dinner. The menu had a great selection at a great price, I had my chicken Schnitzel for 11.50. The serving was more the ample, I wasn’t able to finish it which made me feel a little guilty. I think that two people would easily be able to share one meal with out any problems.

I didn’t get much of a chance to spend any more time in the pub but I think that at any other time of the day it would be no less inviting.

Napier Hotel
210 Napier Street, Fitzroy Tel. 9419 4240

Stern(5,g)

Plastic Photo Show

Renwick — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:29:32 +0000

I have a few friends who are rather good photographers and as a result, combined with the photos that I took on the overseas trip, I have become rather interested in the field as well.
While I was at Uni doing my thing I noticed that there was a photo show going on at the Hawthorn town hall, only problem that it was on while there was a class on, which in the end turn out not be a problem because I just skipped it.

The whole premise of the exhibition was to showcase photographs that were taken using low-tech photographic methods such as: plastic lens, vintage, Polaroid cameras, pinhole, alternative processes and antiquarian methods.

Although many of the subjects or objects that were photographed were ordinary the way and perpective that they were taken were different because of the methods used, I probably didn’t get to enjoy as much as I would have liked to mainly because I was on my own and was pretty tired from the week, but still enjoyable.

I did like the fact that I didn’t have to travel far from my normal destinations to get there, I will have to keep my eye out for similar sort of stuff.

Hilltop Hoods at Festival Hall

Renwick — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 12:57:52 +0000

I had already bought the recently released album The Hard Road and had listened to it a quite a few times, it didn’t have the same impact as The Calling did but it was, what I believe still a good release, it was with hope and excitment that I also bought tickets to the show at Festival Hall, which of course is one of my most hated venues due to past experiences, due to the shocking ventilation of the place.

I listened to all of their albums before I went along just to make sure that I was at least familar with most of their stuff, but I was curious to see how long their gig would go for and the type of material they would draw upon because there was a lot there and unlike rock/alternative bands who I am used to going to see I would think that most people at hip hop gigs like to have the party stuff playing most of the time, the stuff you can dance and shake your booty at.

My first shock of the night came even before I entered the venue

First they asked for my I.D at the door and once the security guard was satisfied he decided that he wanted pat me down to make sure that I wasn’t carrying any weapons I suppose, it was something that had never crossed my mind, being searched at a gig but then I suppose it was a concern for the venue or was it just because it was a hip hop gig they assumed so much.

My second shock was the weird atmosphere that was about the place it was somewhere between passive agression and teenage boy angst, for me it wasn’t comfortable but I forgot about it once I started settling into the whole scene. Mystro was the first support act, more a warm up I suppose and wasn’t too bad, but I wasn’t concentrating because I was more concerned with finding a good spot and getting a drink from the extradionary long line to the bar.

The second act and support was Koolism who I haven’t really heard much of but where actually quite good from what I could see and hear in my onward march in the line to the bar, I will have to remember to check out their music sometime, the crowd really got into them as well, and most of them are probably bigger hip hop fans that I am.
It was a bit of a wait until the main act was about to come on and I was trying to drink my two plastic glasses of VB (yuck) to kill the time but eventually they did turn up and with an absolute bang.

I have never really seen fireworks, exploading sparkles and flames on a stage before for a gig, but that probably has something to do with the type of music events that I am normally accustomed to. But the opening track Recapturing the Vibe (myspace link, but there is a download link for the song) was great and excatly like I would have imagined it and the pyrotechnics added something…different to it.

It was a good night and apparently we made history, officially being the biggest hip hop gig in Australia to date, I myself don’t mind making a bit of history every so often. I love seeing a crowd all moving to the same beat, it’s a great feeling being part of that I’m not quite sure how else to describe it. Other notable song highlights include The Nosebleed section (Marika and RM you would be glad to know this) went off with the whole place pretty much singing the song word for word.

My last surprise came after they announced and sang their last song 45 mintues or so after they first came on stage which I thought was a little short, I couldn’t tell if it was premeditated or if was genuine but the whole place went wild with an outragous amount of noice for a good 5 minutes until they came back on stage to play a few more songs.

I still think that their Corner Hotel gig was better 2 years ago, but I guess that it’s just my preference.

What a Great night! (one of the tracks on the album about copous amounts of alachol)

David Ford at Ding Dong Lounge

Renwick — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:01:34 +0000

I had heard him in an interview on the Triple J’s Morning Show and I was quite impressed at what I heard while I was half awake, I didn’t quite understand how he used loops to produce the music because it sounded quite complex but I was also quite attracted to his lyrics.

So I got up and had a look around on the Internet and found a few sites as well as his myspace page (all the rage these days), noticed that he had a gig planned at the Ding Dong Lounge on Thursday night and decided that I would go along because I might regret it later if I didn’t.

So I left class early mainly because the lecturer didn’t seem to know what he was talking about or at least did but wasn’t making any sense as he has done for the past couple of weeks.

For only $12 I don’t think that could have gotten any better value for money, there wasn’t any warm up act so he just suddenly turned up on stage at about 8:30pm and started playing. I don’t suppose the use of loops is anything special but I think that it’s all in the composition and the lyrics which is why I think it his performance was great, I enjoy the feeling of smaller gigs because there is just a more intimate feel about them and good artists are really about to fill a room. The venue wasn’t packed but it was full which I think added to a better feel for the night, the other reason that I like smaller gigs is the fact that the artist is more wililng to come out afterwards and talk the audience/fans which I got a chance to do. I was even able to get a photo out of it, which I was extremely pleased about, but I’m not so sure about David.
I will soon go out and grab this debut album, “I sincerely apologise for all the trouble I’ve caused” (long title, I know), he is supporting Augie March on their tour around the country and I hope that he gains some fans around there as well.

Best MIFF Shorts

Renwick — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:19:40 +0000

I had hoped to see more of the http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au as I had oulined in MIFF List I had got to see one of the list: Between the Lines: India’s Third Gender and on sunday I got to see one more being MIFF shorts.

My memory is a bit sketchy but this is what I remember seeing:

Below I have listed the films that showed with a cut-copy from the Film Festival website, maybe it’s me but I don’t really understand why movies such as these to be credible they have to be so depressing. the only exception is the Astronauts which was quite funny and I am glad that it was in the middle of the session because I was getting quite a downer on how the theme of the shows were going. Small Boxes was was optimistic at the end which meant that it was good film to end the whole show on.

I’m not a film buff so if someone could fill me in on if the films that win awards such as this have to be about “the hard life” or are there movies that have won awards that have shown the better part of life or do the only ones that win are the “hard hitting” shorts.

But that aside it was quite good to see shorts and try to workout the larger story outside what they showed you during the short, I didn’t read any of the synopsis so that I wouldn’t have and preconceptions about the shows which I thought was a good idea and worked out well.
Shorts:

Avatar a cool psychological drama about a disabled husband and his carer.

Small Boxes

Hernandez’ restrained coming-of-age tale follows young Latino-Australian Alberto who works nights at the local produce markets. Noticing a vacancy at the local shoe store, he searches for the courage to make his life change.

End of Town – a moody yet beautiful glimpse of a girl standing on a lonely road looking into the distance and into her future.

The Substitute

Zohara, a girl soldier in the Israeli army is desperate to get out. Her hopes evaporate as her replacement appears suicidal. Beautifully understated social commentary against a backdrop of terrifying military power. Screened at Berlin.
Antonio’s Breakfast – Winner of this years BAFTA AWARD for best short fiction film, a gripping, unsettling and powerful film. Unable to dress, eat, move or breath on his own Antonia’s father depends on him for everything. Fourteen floors up and desperate to escape. Antonio wont let himself leave.

Red

A young man goes shopping with his mother after a tumultous night out. a conversation filled with uncomfortable dialogue takes place en route to their destination.

Sexy Thing

A young girl finds release in the ocean of her imagination, with her best friend. When an unwelcome intruder brings darkness to her reality, Georgie’s life changes forever. Selected for Official competition Cannes.

Astronauts

No matter where your office, there’s always an idiot. Two astronauts discover that, in space, no one can hear you scream.

MIFF List

Renwick — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 14:29:40 +0000

I had seen a few ads for the Melbourne International Film Festival but being the uncultured guy that I am, I didn’t know what to see, so I started looking around the Melbourne blogs to see if anyone else was going and I found out on one of the blogs that I visit that Naridu Wondering was planning to go along, so ever so politely I asked if I could get a recommendation and being an excellent Melbournean I got my reply here : MIFF

Armed with this list I have decided (dependent on availability of free time and money) to see the following:

An Inconvenient Truth

Between the Lines: India’s Third Gender

Seven Swords

Best MIFF Shorts

I had already known about A Scanner Darkly because I frequent the Apple trailer park often and A Scanner Darkly Trailer had shown up a while ago, but the session at the film festival had sold out before I got a chance to buy the tickets. I will just have to wait until it comes out at the movies.
I will try to report back when and what I have seen.

Desert Lights

Renwick — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 07:08:45 +0000

Something for Kate released their latest album on the 1st of July, they are my favourite band, I’m not too sure how they became some of my most often listened to tracks, I just remember listening to some of the first tracks of Elsewhere for 8 minutes and just immediately liking the music. As I do i just keep listening to the music and then album after album, gig after gig I went along.

I love the fact they they are Australian and most of all that they are from Melbourne, they are unpretentious and love what they do, they also seem to really like their fans, releasing great extra tracks on singles and even on the new album some ‘bootleg’ recordings of songs.

Like I have said before there is no better judge of a band than when seeing them preform live, and Something for Kate are no exception.

Now about their new album, the reviews are mixed and I unfortunately I am no exception but I do hold some bias being a fan. There is no doubt that their sound is different this time around, there is a marked deviation from the rough cuts of the first two albums (Elsewhere For Eight Minutes, Beautiful Sharks) and then the slightly more melodic later two (The Official Fiction, Echolalia ). It hasn’t been hidden that they changed their producer because they were after a different sound, they stated in a interview – in j mag i think – that they had expanded from a 3 piece band to the travelling group of 5 or more and they wanted to get back to the original number. Also the fact that they are very protective of their sound so they wanted to explore what else they are capable of.

I was lucky enough to make it along to the album launch and get a signed copy as well, I was so happy afterwards I couldn’t express myself

The music is great, it is different, but still good and for those that aren’t fans it will probably take a little bit of time to catch on, they won’t attract the screaming adoring throngs of fans that you see the other bands have, but then again I don’t think it’s what they want and they shouldn’t, I wouldn’t like them or other bands like Powderfinger.

In regards to the tracks on the album; I loved the gritty sound of ‘California’, the slightly more melodic ‘Transparanoia‘, the singable ‘Oh Kamikaze’ and the relaxing ‘This is the Life for Me’

I obviously loved the album but it’s only the fortunately among us that like Something For Kate that have the opportunity of that feeling, to be honest it’s probably not what everyone expects and not everyone is going to like it, but I think that with time it will come to receive the same status as the other previous albums

stern(g,10)

mothersMilk

Renwick — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:27:59 +0000

mothersMilk, now that’s an odd enough name in its self but the place is great even if the location is a bit out of the way from the main party section of chapel street but don’t let that deter you because the bar/lounge as a great feel as you walk in. The use of colours is great, deep reds and dark tones lend a very understated confidence.

I was only fortunate enough to have a few drinks with a mate so I didn’t get the full tour, but at this time of year we had a great gas fireplace to sit in front of and just chat, there is a decent drinks selection from wine to beers, even my favourite Asahi, large generous couches and chairs dot the place so you can relax and enjoy the poison of your choice.
The location from my point of view is good because I’m not quite one of those types who likes to hang out in the Chapel street area and once being a local resident of Windsor would have found it great to have some place like this to go for a chat or a quick beer with a couple of mates.

mothersMilk
17 Chapel Street
Windsor 3181

North By Northwest at The Astor Theatre

Renwick — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 09:43:49 +0000

I really enjoy going to the Astor Theatre, it is so different to the Village Cinema near my place, and it’s sometimes an adventure to get there because it’s out of the way. The art-deco interior with it’s lighting and furnishings is great, almost feels like an event when you go to a movie there, and it seems that way as well when you consider the varied types of movies that always played there.

It may look old but there nothing old about the technology that gets used in the theatre and you can hear and see it when they play films that do not get played at more popular cinemas such as 70mm screenings.

North by Northwest is one of those classics by Alfred Hitchcock, I have only seen a few of his movies but this is probably the only one that I’m able to sit through.
It’s essentially a case of mistaken identity and the lengths that the main character goes to protect his name, other people and sort out the mess that has befallen him.

The great thing about the Astor is the the location, it’s quite close to chapel street which means that you can always head out for a drink afterwards.

Riva St Kilda

Renwick — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:09:13 +0000

Riva is a fantastic place to eat, it’s got a great view across the bay and parking good but most of the time you will have to pay $3 dollars to park.

I didn’t feel too out of place so I wouldn’t consider it too posh although main’s can cost about $25+. I’ve been twice to Riva and noticed that the crowd at the bar can be both people waiting for a table or a group of people who have arrived for a couple of drinks with friends.

There is also a deak area which I am sure on much warmer days would be a great place to have a lazy weekend lunch over looking the bays and boats.

I had the: oven roasted barramundi filled seared potato gnocchi, bourguignonne garnish, fresh garden peas finished with a red wine glaze. It was a lot smaller that I am used to but it tasted great and i’ve had bigger plates of food for less and tasted far worse.

For dessert I had chocolate assiette: white chocolate & cardamom brulee, rich dark chocolate terrine with pistachio praline, milk chocolate sorbet, black forest parfait & a white chocolate & almond paris breast.

I rarely pay for such expensive dessert, I’m not too sure if it was worth it, but it tasted fantastic and was a delight to eat even the way it was served made it look tasty.
The full menu

Defiantly a place to go if you want a good night of dining.

Stern(6,g)

SFK at Prince of Wales

Renwick — Fri, 26 May 2006 04:30:18 +0000

Something for Kate have been my favourite band ever since I heard their first album (Elsewhere for 8 Minutes) back in 1997.

I love going to see them live, the best judge of a bands’ quality (if you like their music of course) is if they sound better or worse live compared to their album. SFK in my humble opinion always sound better live.

But why they play at the Prince of Wales I will never understand, I have seen them at a few venues but the POW has got to be the worst that they always play at. The acoustics of that place are horrible you can never get the true appreciate of music from the place because it’s always a combination of too loud, too much base and treble and the voice isn’t great.
It’s the kinda stuff that puts you off bands and it’s happened to me, the last support band that I saw there with SFK was ‘Blue Line Medic‘, they were alright but I was completely turned off because of the way that they sounded, and the same thing happened to ‘Damn Arms‘ this time. Their stuff from what I heard was good, but I didn’t really like it because of the acoustics in the place.
It’s very unfortunate.

I don’t really understand why SFK always play so late, normally on a Friday or Saturday night it isn’t too bad, this gig was on a Thursday night and to come on at 11pm and play to 1am is great and is fine because I’m a huge fan.

The was great as always, it was Paul Dempsey’s birthday that night as well, so the crowd sang happy birthday and they played a few new songs and couple of old ones, and one cover that I hadn’t heard – Rock the Casbah by The Clash
When ever they do cover tracks they always seem to pick ones that they can do well, which is great.

Once again money very well spent.

Three Below

Renwick — Sun, 21 May 2006 12:50:11 +0000

Three Below is little a bar that is located at the city square.
City Square
Shop 3 Ground floor
44-86 Swanston St
Melbourne 3000 VIC

The place is rather cosy, and by cosy I don’t mean cramped or small, which is it, but clever use stools and little nooks and well designed seating spaces, lighting and outdoor space. The sections of stained glass are also a nice touch which gives it a different feel, I was impressed at although how every small it was it didn’t feel that way.

There is a good selection of beer available and an even better selection of wines, I did get the chance to try the Kiwi Cup (Pimms with muddled kiwifruit, ginger liqueur, sugar and ice) which is a lot stronger than it looks.

The place was good and really enjoyed my time there, the crowd was great as well which I consider a good indication of a venue. Depending on the type of people the place attracts leaves a good or bad taste for me; the crowd were relaxed, well meaning and well mannered, which made a good venue to finish of an interesting night out.

Stern(5,g)

Yak Bar

Renwick — Sun, 21 May 2006 06:36:31 +0000

Yak Bar is located pretty much on the corner of Flinders Lane and Russel Street (although you enter through Flinders Lane).

There isn’t anything pretencions about the place which I like and it’s not overly large, but big enough.

I didn’t get a chance to sample the food menu but from I heard from friends it was great at a reasonable price, I haven’t had a chance to try any Tapas since I got back from Spain, but my experience there wasn’t that great anyway.

As you walk in from the Flinders Lane entrance you notice the great use of contrasting colours that is meant to give it the middle eastern feel, but I did notice and couldn’t figure out straight away was the clothing hung on the right hand side of the room as you enter, I didn’t get a chance to take a photo, but it pretty much looked like what an Eskimo would wear, I am unsure of the connection and wasn’t brave enough to ask.

They serve a good variety of drinks at the bar and the service is prompt and efficient, next to the bar is the smallish dance floor where the people were grooving it up while I was there, around it are great little sitting areas where you could sit down and have a chat there is also an enclosed space off the the side of the venue with couches around the walls.

I am uncertain about where I would place Yak Bar if I was planning I night out, but it definitely somewhere that I would start off with because it does server dinner and get quite lively later on, which is great for after dinner drinks and then maybe moving on

Stern(5,g)

Below are pictures that are coming straight from the Yak Bar website – http://www.yakbarfood.com.au/

Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals

Renwick — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:10:15 +0000

Scott Thomas opened the night with his style of acoustic guitar songs, which i kinda like and I think had a very Californian feel to it, the start was a bit shaky but once he got going and let it out it got really good. He turned out to be a rather good warm up act.

Ben Harper’s reputation as an artist in my mind is set in stone, but I have never expected this gig to be as good as it was.

He has this strange ability to communicate the emotion of the song across to his audience that I have never experienced. Everything that he did during the show showed an almost spiritual connection with his music and I think that I felt it as well

I couldn’t tell you the song list but what I did notice was the fact that he didn’t play ‘both sides of the gun’ the title release of his most recent album.

We had gotten general admission tickets and the section were we had picked turned out to be rather good, we were facing the middle of the stage and were located roughly half way down from the stage. Throughout the night while “Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals” were doing their thing the crowd in front of us would pretty much stand still with a few long dancers, but the whole section behind us would dance to everything and I definitely got a great vibe from the people behind me that I started to jive as well, it made the songs so much more enjoyable.

He did do an acoustic set about half way through the show which changed the feeling but then picked up again when the rest of the band came back out. They went off a couple of times and each time the whole stadium erupted with cheers wanting them to come out, and the last time that they did the percussionist Leon Lewis got to doing a solo thing and it was fantastic the crowd when wild, and the rest of the song was fantastic as well with the whole crowd getting involved…Better Way and Black Rain were definitely memorable.
Even though the gig was at the Rod Laver Arena (Normally used for main tennis events) it had a extraordinary intimate feel towards it, the stage was very bare and striped back, there were pretty much instruments, carpet and chairs on the stage. The band came out and just started playing, nothing fancy but not too much talking to the audience expect for the sincere thanks to the audience for being here. I felt that the band showed a real passion for their music and what they are playing and that they wanted to share what they are feeling with everyone else…it’s the way that music should be.

Stern(10,g)

Tryst Bar

Renwick — Sat, 06 May 2006 13:58:52 +0000

One of the most unassuming bars that I have been to, it’s tucked into a side street just off Chapel Street, I almost walked straight passed the place, the entrance is the front porch of a normal house that has been converted to a bar.

The first thing that you see is the bar where you may pleasantly grab a drink of your choice and then wonder around to see the various areas such as the dance floor, the back room and the beer garden. Which in the past would have been living areas and the normal garden, but now have a funky twist.

The crowd is also fantastically unassuming, obviously attracting those that prefer tucked away places but still like to have a good time. While I was there I enjoyed the music it’s wasn’t too alternative so I could still grove to it but it wasn’t commercial which was great.

The only qualm I have with the place is the size, since it is situated inside a house things can get crowed quickly, which is what I found out towards the busier part of the night.

So if you love a good house party and looking for a night out head to:
Tryst Bar
3 Wilson St
South Yarra

Melways: 58 D4

Stern(7,g)

Akmal Saleh – Akmal

Renwick — Wed, 03 May 2006 13:15:27 +0000

This will probably be the last show that I will go to, I thought that I had done quite well for myself (4 shows this year).
Akmal Saleh has always been a name that I have known and associated with a certain type of comedy.

Joel Ozborn I suppose you could call the warm up act, mainly because his name wasn’t really on the bill with big writing and he didn’t get the same amount of time as Akmal did. He was O.K, wasn’t great and you could tell, I’m not sure what it was but his delivery just wasn’t funny, some of the stuff that he was saying was just smile worthy. But to his credit he just soldiered on, kept changing direction and tried a few different things until he finally got a few laughs and continued to do so, he definitely get kudos for effort.

Akmal was good, I suppose that he is known for his rather ethnic jokes more than anything else and it’s what he stuck to, in terms of his discussion of the Sydney riots as well as terrorists and this how they could/couldn’t fit in Australia. The start of his show was hilarious, it was pretty much about him talking to himself and was really well done and thought out. There were also bits were he used audience participation to add a different tact to the show which is something that I like to watch, I suppose that it kinda shows that the comic can ad lib and is naturally funny by nature and not by delivery. Don’t get me wrong I like both, but I like both in balance he did both, but I think that Ross Nobel is just a bit better at it. He just seemed to go up and down too much there just would be dead bits sometimes, the time really passed quite quickly with this gig, which I suppose shows that I did enjoy myself because I wasn’t consistently looking at my watch.

They did do a bit at the end with a treasure of goodies that they picked up from the Salvation Army Shop earlier that day, which was quite entertaining.
Overall I enjoyed myself.

Stern(6,g)

Music, Myrth & Mayhem VIII

Renwick — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:12:52 +0000

I was looking for something to do on Monday night, since the next day was a holiday and I could afford to sleep in a little bit.
Once again the 20th Melbourne Internation Comedy Festival was on and I had already gone to see Ross Noble and Charlie Pickering and I had enjoyed those two shows and since I was 2 for 2 I thought why not. I had tried for tickets for Akmal Saleh but he was unfortuantly sold out, so not to be detered I went hunting around looking for something to see and there really wasn’t much available but I did find this one gig that looked interesting.

Music, Mirth & Mayhem VIII

For those who can’t decide which show to go to then Music, Mirth & Mayhem VIII is the one for you. Hosted by Lawrence Mooney this show has become a highlight of the festival featuring the best local and international comedians along with favourite rock n’ roll artists. Previous lineup has included Dave Hughes, Daniel Kitson, Greg Fleet, Ross Noble, Peter Rowsthorn, Judith Lucy, Dave Grant, Tim Rogers, Rebecca Barnard, Dave Graney & Clare Moore, Mick Thomas, to name but a few!!! One night only, get in quick as it’s always a sell out. All proceeds go to the Mirabel Foundation who support children orphaned or abandoned due to parental drug abuse. Mirabel believes that ‘every child deserves a childhood’. Come and laugh out loud for charity!!!

The Line up looked pretty good and considering the price of the ticket it seemed like a good sample and maybe if they were any good I would go out and catch some of their individual shows. So I bought tickets and headed out with my recent comedy festival buddy.

Lawrence Mooney was the MC for the night and apparently organised the whole thing for the charity.

Danny Bhoy, Dave Hughes and Deborah Conway
Daniel Kitson, D-CUPPETRY (Emma Powell and Louise Steele), Fiona O’Loughlin, Tim Minchin
Dave Grant, Greg Fleet, Ella Hooper aka Killing Heidi

Now I’m not certain of the order that I have above that’s the best that I could remember it.

Danny Bhoy I kept hearing from a few people that there was something odd about his shows the fact that he seemed to be repeating the same jokes that he used last time. I wasn’t about to judge him because I had never seen him live and had only seen him on the gala the night before.
He came out and did his thing but for some reason I got the impression that he didn’t want to be there (it could have been the scarcasitic muttered “it’s great to be here on your night off”) and then again we were talking to someone in the crowd and she was saying that he had told the same jokes as last year, the mum jokes has been floating around for a while as has the car crash one. As dodgy as that sounded he was still a little bit funny.

Dave Hughes was his normal self I suppose, I’m not his biggest fan and he does seem to have his funny bits every so often, but again like Danny Bhoy it seemed like he didn’t want to be there and accordingly didn’t prepare anything either. Which is fine if you are able to ad lib and keep the continum going so that he crowd can’t tell that you don’t have a set script. His 10 minutes were littered everywhere with “ummmmm’s”, “it’s great to be here”, “i’m excited”, “I’m pumped” sometimes on their own other times in combination with each other, all in all there was probably about 5 minutes of routine. In the end he just seemed to revert to personal self shaming jokes about this drunk days and living with his girlfriend, which actually were funny and finally ended on the good note.

Deborah Conway I had heard about but I couldn’t make any connections with any songs that I knew, as good as her performance was it seemed to interrupt the flow of the show, it did provide something good to listen to and was a welcome break considering that I was doubtful about now buying these tickets. But I must remember that it was going for a good cause.

After the break Daniel Kitson was on who I thought was quite good, I’m fairly sure that he only prepared about 5 minutes of a 10 minute set but he actually made it look good. He came out telling about how he wasn’t very good at charity shows and gave an appropiate story which ended up being quite funny, and the rest I am fairly sure was made up about how he was supposed to be watching the time and he wasn’t and how much the comedians back stage cared about the gig. I think that he probably went a few minutes over was he was supposed to do but he was better than the previous acts with the subdude style, almost like he is talking to the crowd about something funny instead of telling jokes. His act actually flowed from one point to the next.

Fiona O’Loughlin was actually quite good I can’t remember thinking that she was bad or her set was badly prepared she told us about a time that she got flown down to do a gig and got put into a wrong hotel in some presendital suite and about her family. She was quite good, considering all that I can remember her from is the soup ad she did years ago.

It was probably at this pointed that the following comics noticed that an 8 year old boy with his parents were sitting in the crowd, now I’m not certain but I think that it might have been a grave error of judgement to bring a child to a show like this. The jokes or acts were by no means clean in nature or often stories that even made most of the crowd of grown adults cring let alone a child.

D-CUPPETRY, Dance of The D-Cups with Emma Powell and Louise Steele was something that wasn’t on the offical line up so I wasn’t expecting them, I had seen the ads for the show and wondered what Tit tricks with class would look like but I wasn’t really game to go and find out…well I did this night.
It wasn’t bad just different, and actually quite funny in the end, I didn’t expect them to acutally go topless infront of a crowd and do tricks with their jugs, as they like to call them. One thing is for sure it wasn’t at all erotic but it was, thankfully, funny which I am sure was the whole point of Mindbending manipulation of the mammaries. I am esspecially impressed at how bravery of these two women.

Tim Minchin I had never heard of and seen for the first time on the gala on Sunday night, although the song was acutally a community service announcement it was the way that it was delivered that made it funny. Tonight it was no different, his type of dark humour I found hairlirous, he started talking about his current relationship and what would happen if he started dating other people, this continued on with a song routine with the paino which again was very very funny. His deliverely, style and subtle method all added to the dark comedy that he is doing and they work prefectly. All in all probably the best comic act of the night.

Dave Grant apparently has been on the circut for a while, which proves how little I know about what comics are out there, he started off telling us about his trip up north and locals and then moved into the battle of the sexes storyline and the differences between them, often relying on sexual jokes. It worked, most were funny, mainly I suppose to the guys and appealed a little bit to the girls.

Greg Fleet I thought was funny but I was seriously mistaken. They might have thought that he would have been a good comic to end off the show but he wasn’t. To be perfectly honest it was like watching a horrific train wreck in slow motion, each minute that passed produced a ever more sickening feeling in your stomach.
When he started off his comments about politics and society in general were a little bit funny, but only because the general population knows that comedians tend to be slighly politically incorrect to get laughs. But what he was doing was ridiculous (think of the the 8 year old again), comments included: John howard takes it up the ass because australia is the whore of america and when bush cums it is black death that is spewed forth” There was a certain edge to it all that was unforgiving and serious. I’m not sure if it was because that his ex-girlfriend tried to run him over the day before, so to pay her back he told the whole crowd her name where she lived and worked, and then told everyone that he wasn’t a very good person…I think that this was obious by now. It could have been alachol or just because he had a bad day, because he told us that he would like to shoot john howard in the head and regret it for 25 minutes. His friend who decided to come out and play a song with him is equally at fualt because he didn’t try to stop him and if anything was encourageing. The song that followed was just as cring worthy and vile on it’s account of racial slurs and outragious defemation of people and society.
I surprised when he was clapped off stage, all in all completely disgusteing and completely ruined the whole show.

The issues need to be brough up no doubt, but at a charity event for abused childen held during the comedy festival was not the place. It was about now that I was regretting picking this gig and hoping that my friend didn’t hate my for inviting along.

The Hooper family was the last act, otherwise known as Killing Heidi, they were quite good preforming two new songs and one old one that were became famous for back in the day. At least it was a good ending to an otherwise unfortunatly average show.

Lawrence Mooney who was the MC for the event, as with every MC at a comedy event, tried his had at a bit of comedy between acts, this was funny at the start but just got progressivly bad towards the end and just embrassing. It was admirable what he did organising the event but it might have been better if he just did that and not try to be funny himself.

I am not sure that I wasted money going to this show at least I know that if I wanted to go and see Tim Minchin I know I wouldn’t waste my money, I suppose that the money was going to a good cause.

I may be wrong to critise the comedians without knowing anything about their style of comedy, but I think that it would be fair to say that if they can make me laugh no matter the style and convey across the fact that they are joking and not being serious then they have done a good job. But with some of the acts this simply didn’t happen.

Special Thank to for my accompaniement who put up with some of the worst preformances and still pretended to like it.

Ross Noble – Randomist

Renwick — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:10:20 +0000

Another night out to see the Melbourne Internation Comedy Festival, tonight it was Ross Nobel to see his show Randomist.

It was in the main hall in the Melbourne town hall, after the last weeks parking problem we decided that we should just park at Federation Square considering that it proved to be easier to get around.

The show I thought was fantastic, I had always liked Ross Nobel because he reminded me of Billy Connelly and his style was very similar I thought.
The set was a bit weird but I thought that it fitted with the theme of the show, the other thing that I was interested to see was his fractured arm which I saw on Rove Live a few weeks ago. He moved around a lot on stage so the arm wasn’t doing him too much trouble but he did seem to suffer near the end after some weird jumping in tandum with a joke that he was doing.

I liked the way that he was able to feed off the audience and run with it and the fact that he started with something and then went of three different tangents but somehow always managed to come back to the starting point and always in the funniest of ways.
I not certain if he actually planned anything to say during his show, I think that he might have planned a few things but to be able to have the confidence to make things up on the spot I thought was fantastic.

His ability to take something that is normal and most of the time meaningless and make it hilarious, like toenails, dwarves, Bec Cartright or Alex Loyd, is an amazing skill in its self and something I wish I had.
There was a bit were I got a little bit lost with what he was doing, but it was something that I was expecting and wasn’t surprised but I was a little confused.

Overall it was a great show, would recommed it to anyone as long as they are prepared to laugh.

Stern(10,g)

Charlie Pickering – Auto

Renwick — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:42:14 +0000

The 2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival kicked off this week and I thought that this year finally I would go along and catch a few gigs.

Charlie Pickering’s show Auto was the first one that I decided that I would go along to see.

My girlfriend and I drove into the city, which proved to be a bit of a hassle because of parking issues, I suppose that it was the night before a public holiday and people would be out partying.

The show I thought was very funny and didn’t drag at all, its first show for him of the season so there isn’t really a chance for this to develop any improve work from the audience reactions, which we will probably see as the festival gets on.
There was this guy in the back row who I think had a really weird laugh almost like it was a fake laugh but it must be his normal way of laughing because it stayed consistent, but he always seemed to laugh when everyone else wasn’t.

From his kooky headmaster to his lovable dog and the title of his new book.
I loved hearing about the comic events involved with the supposed writing of his autobiography, it proved to me that I didn’t have to laugh all the time to really enjoy a show. It had all the great elements of a person telling a great story, not necessary a stand up.

Stern(6,g)

What I thought was really great was that he recommend two shows that he thought were great as well so I’m going to try to catch those as well:

Michael Chamberlin and The Ten Commandments

And I’m not certain about the second one that he said but I think that it was
Sam Simmons’ Tales From The Erotic Cat which from the reviews sounds rather odd.

I will be hoping to go to a few more shows before the festival wraps up.

The Croft Institute

Renwick — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 02:40:32 +0000

Finally got the chance to go and check out The Croft Institute, i had heard so much about it, getting there was interesting and questionable at times but fear is alleviated when you reach the end of the ally and you find it there.

The first floor is the most interesting part of the venue with the beakers and test tubes and various other laboratory equipment, I liked it because it was different and smaller than i expected.

The second floor is were you will find the male and female hygiene departments…aka toilets.

The third floor is the dance floor with the fabled grass bar were they serve the drinks.

Maybe it was the fact that it was a Saturday night or I had way too many drinks to be truly objective, but I wasn’t all the impressed, the music was forgettable and the drinks I thought would have been more interesting, but they were pretty run on the mill. I didn’t really feel the vibe that I thought I would get.