singing in the rain: the raincoats @ moma, new york (november 20, 2010)

 to be honest i didnt know much about the raincoats besides girl rock owes them a lot more than bed hair and pink docs. and that kurt cobain wrote them up as genuises.

so when i realised they'd be jamming at moma while i was in new york i was pretty excited. they have played only a few shows in the past few years. one of which was matt groening's all tomorrow's parties.

i got there a bit early. milled around with the EN-WHY folk. a good mixture of too cool sceneters with undercuts and laddered stockings and real geeks in cargos with crooked fringes. and of course a good dosage of women's lib.

to be honest i cant remember what kathleen hanna (of bikini kill and le tigre fame) all i remember is she had a little orange case full of 7" and everything that came out of it was cool.

there was free alchohol. i didnt even know.  
there was chocolate beer. 
it was horrid.

there was also an exhibition but i wanted to stake out a good spot so sorry gals, no dice on the art side.

i didnt know what to expect but i was just so thrilled. there were little audio fireworks going off all over the stage. the way they played was just so astute and it was real. most effects were there manipulated by hand in real time. well WOW. 

ana's music props

kathleen and tobi vail (bikini kill, the frumpies) joined the raincoats for a tribute to dearly departed ari up by playing her song "vindictive." i dont have many pics from this song because i took one long vid. i'll put it up when i can!

ana da silva + jean-marc butty + tobi vail

THE LECTURE

and a lot of the time the seed is not as magnificent as the tree but when gina was singing about being high and being angry and being a woman it expanded into the universe. there is something big now about being chic and wasted and it's all pretense. and we burn and we're pretty. half the time im just not convinced. the raincoats were refreshing.

here are the pretty pics. 

oh and setlist! straight from ana's hands!

saint nicholas is in the house: nick cave et al, sydney, 2007

i thought i'd break up the posts with something vintage and allow myself an opportunity to a) share these memories and b) go on about one of my most favourite topics: nick cave.

when i was 15 i met this great guy who introduced me to 3 bands:

bright eyes

nick cave and the bad seeds

fugazi

fugazi never really stuck. bright eyes stuck straight away and nick cave grew on me. i think i needed to have a bit more of a life before i understood him. i mean bright eyes was all about being a tortured post adolescent being disillusioned by the world. nick cave is about things bigger than yourself. after all the birthday party was nick cave's bright eyes... only probably a bit more violent. it's a natural progression.

i know a lot of people who hate nick cave's music now because it's not as visceral. i know we hold instinct in a high regard in rock'n'roll. but i think you have to give credit to the ponderers and poets. one is a snapshot on fire. another is a wide panoramic installation. it's nice to appreciate both.

one of the things i best like about nick cave is he has a clean eye and a good sense of humour. how else could he have done a song with kylie minogue? he said he was inspired by her song "better the devil you know" and kylie said nick cave gave her the best advice about being brave enough to do what you want.

i also remember when he did an interview with jjj's jay and the doctor and he said he liked watching romantic comedies and he really admires hugh grant. they were stunned. 

note: the pictures in this post are in black and white because it was the first time i was using my new olympus so the white balance was really off and because it was a shitty olympus they needed to be in B&W to hide the shitty photo quality.

NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS + GRINDERMAN @ ENMORE THATRE, SYDNEY, 2007

 

we take sydney: leonard cohen 2010 tour

i was really bummed i missed him the first time around. and i knew i was missing out on something. 

ngoc and i had planned to go to melbourne to see him this time as we managed to get 2nd row seats there. the sydney ones were going for $1500 on ebay when they started at $230. we managed to only pay $650 for 2. 

but alas it became apparent ngoc couldnt make it. it was quite sad. but i managed to buy really cheap stall tickets for sydney so that at least ngoc and i can see him together even if we weren't close. 

the lovely cohen uber-fan adam lewis (who was already travelling to hobart to see leonard cohen there as well as sydney and who had seen him twice before) happened to be in melbourne that very night and bought the ticket from me. i mean, how could he say no? 2nd row tickets!

the sydney seats werent bad but werent close. but at least the sound was good. there were 3 breaks/encore and i think by the last bit a few people had left and we thought he was just gogint ot go on forever (which was absolutely fine). anyway ngoc and i just decided to sneak down into the floor area and we ended up in front of the stage! and the cherry? WE GOT SET LISTS!

before we moved

after we moved

because jetstar and i are both unreliable i was late but made it anyway because the flight was late and i was then late for the show and had to cart my stuff to the show because i couldnt make it to the hostel. i eventually found adam (without a phone. miracle!)

and leonard? HEAVEN. wow. i mean... i sat there thinking we have become complacent. this level of showmanship just made so many acts i've seen (acts i thought were fantastic) seem sterile. i mean the bells and whistles were great. the alchohol and the high kicks and the stage dives. but they suddenly relegated to the status of filler. this man was standing on stage with just a fedora tilted over his sly smile and a good band behind him. sure between sydney and melbourne the jokes were the same but always tastefully and charmingly delivered. 

and the voice! oh and that smile! 

i wanted him to be my man. 

i didnt want to dance him to the end of love. 

i wanted to take this waltz over and over again!

 more pictures within...

my room and these eyes

  
i've moved about 20 times in my life. this room now is my favourite. it's the first time ive committed to a place. we live to move. we keep things packed. we dont have much furniture. 
  

     

i'm old enough now though. i can afford to buy things. lift the big pieces of wood of the flat packed book shelf from officeworks all by myself. i can be specific.

  

the only constant is change
proverb
if you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.
Mary Engelbreit
with these things there's no telling
we'll just have to wait and see
but I'd rather be working for a paycheck
than waiting to win the lottery
bright eyes    
  

     

i try not to put things on walls. but... the walls part is hard. i think i start with the walls. and i've been wrong many times. this time i've left the walls last.