Sunday soup.

Well, the Oakleigh Bowling Club is chugging along nicely. The place was packed, the Wagons show was great, and I ran into the author of this article there, too. I don't know who was more surprised.
Anyway, they are running a series of Sunday shows over the next few weeks:

I have been to gigs where a CD, 7" or (many years ago) a flexidisc has been included in the entry price- but never before have I seen a bowl of soup offered as part of the deal. Considering that Charles Jenkins sold out the Corner last week, it may be a good idea to get a ticket for his 26th. July show early.

Slow coach.

Well, it's been a while- their launch tour for "The Rise And Fall Of Goodtown" started back on 8th May- but I am finally catching the excellent Wagons for the first time since summer on Friday night.

The Oakleigh Bowls Club may not be the hippest place in town, but it's friendly, cosy (only 240 capacity, all sold out) and cheap. "Goodtown" is a great record, too, by the way- but don't just take my word for it.

And then on Saturday, there's this, at the Corner Hotel:

Please join Charles Jenkins and The Zhivagos for the
Blue Atlas Winter Ball, an epic night of entertainment as we welcome our special guests Clare Bowditch, Rebecca Barnard, Anna Burley, Abby Dobson, Spencer P Jones, Davey Lane,Tim Rogers, Ron Peno, Kerri Simpson, Cal and Van Walker along with the Blue Atlas Strings performing songs from the Charles Jenkins and the Zhivagos magnum opus "Blue Atlas".

Although I have an awful feeling that at a mere $20, that's sold out too.

If you have nothing to do on Sunday, why not head over to the Old Bar for their monthly garage sale? Admission is free, you can drink a couple of $10 jugs, and buy some crap that someone else is trying to get rid of.

God knows I still haven't listened to the four $1.00 CDs I got there last month.

Back with a big one.

I was prodded back into action by the massive guilt trip my mate Carbie accidentally laid on me last week. You don't really need to know the details- suffice to say that when someone who had recently read the whole of Last Tram in a single sitting asked me why it's not up to date, I blushed. Yes, blushed. Anyway...there's a massive weekend on offer, if you want it.

The Applecore festival, back in February, was great. Now comes the follow up- a live CD featuring all the bands who played is being launched over two nights at the Old Bar. That handbill is a bit out of date. In particular, Brisbane's amazing Do The Robot have been added to the line up, which now looks like this:

Friday, June 26
8.00 - 8.40 - Teeth & Tongue 9.00 - 9.40 - New Estate 10.00 - 10.40 - Thought Creature 11.00 - 11.40 - Actor SlashModel 12.00 - 12.40 - Deloris

Saturday, June 27
12.20 - 1.00 - Graveyard Train 11.20 - 12.00 - Super Wild Horses 10.30 - 11.00 - Rational Accademy 9.30 - 10.10 - Deadbeat Club 8.40 - 9.10 - Elizabeth Pistol Club 7.50 - 8.20 - Dead Forest Index 7.00 - 7.30 - Kid Sam 6.00 - 6.40 - Grand Salvo 5.10 - 5.40 - Milk Teddy
4.10 - 4.50 - Brother Man Dude Show 3.20 - 3.50 - Geoff O'Conner 2.30 - 3.00 - Do The Robot

Friday night is $10 and Saturday is $15. 100 CDs will be available each day/night for $2.

Sadly, Saturday clashes with the latest Mistletone Records extravagnaza- Castle Tones, which is on all over the Edinburgh Castle in Sydney Rd. Moreland:



Hmm, that's a bit pastel. But you get the idea.

If you have the energy on Sunday, there's a bit of a houseparty going on in the afternoon:


The Straight Arrows and Dead Farmers are pretty much guaranteed to make you late for work on Monday, or the very least ensure you show up with your ears ringing.

Whoops.

Sorry, I musta been asleep. Busy. Drunk. Whatever.
Let's get this thing up to date with details of an event that's on this very night:

In advance of the May 30th release of his new album, "Knock Yourself Out", Dave Graney is giving a talk on the art of songwriting at the Ian Potter Gallery in Federation Square. That's at 6.00pm tonight, 14th May, and will be followed by a show by the Lurid Yellow Mist. It's part of their "Late Night Thursdays" series- details here.

Short, quick, busy.

The Drones open a national tour behind new album "Havilah" with shows at The Corner on Thursday and Friday, with both featuring supports from Kev Carmody and the Witch Hats. Now that's a bill that could either flop like a pancake or rise like a souffle. There's a lot of respect for Carmody in the Drones camp- they covered one of his most incisive songs, "River Of Tears" on a tribute album- here's hoping that translates across to the crowd.

While on Saturday, Crystal Thomas & the Flowers Of Evil play their first show for 2009 at Yah-Yah's in Collingwood. Their album was one of my faves from last year- it's good to see them back.

Congratulations are due

...to Dave and Leisa Thomas, on the birth of their boy Charlie Asheton Thomas, on Sunday.
Here's a couple of lullabies for him, played at a recent show, as only Dave can play them:

Za/zo *

I can't believe I didn't post about this in advance. Oops.
Anyway, I celebrated by going to Missing Link on Saturday, seeing a bunch of friends as well as an excellent set by Wasted Truth. On Sunday I saw Spencer P. Jones and Mick Turner play sets at Greville Records, and saw more friends. And drank some beer. I did remember to buy a couple of CDs, too.

* it was this killer combo, put down by my opponent about four goes in on Saturday afternoon, that led me to concede this year's Scrabble tournament game, and save everyone some valuable drinking time.

An ache I can't shake.

Well, I'm still recovering from Boogie, almost a week later. Great weather, 30 or so bands, a 1000 or so beers. Highlights included ECSR, Puta Madre, and Dan Auerbach's surprise Sunday set. Box Wars and a bottomless margarita were just the icing on the cake. It sold me- I'll be back next year for sure.
Anyway, to business.
One of my favorite haunts, the Old Bar, is celebrating shit again on Friday:

That's pretty damn good value, actually.
I can't find out much about this "Afternoon In St. Kilda" thing, not even a decent .jpeg of the flier, but it looks interesting:

The line up includes GUT, Tim Rogers, the Crack Whores Dave Larkin and Smoke Machine- Dave Last's latest carcrash of an outfit. $50 gets you beers, drinks and BBQ from 3.00pm til it runs out, and it's all for a good cause.
This one's even harder to read, but I suspect that's deliberate:

The Gruntled, still Australia's best avant-medieval improvised drone noise psychedelic combo after five years of making music influenced by Syd Barrett, medieval songs about drinking, love and death, Can, Neu!, The Misunderstood and The Electric Prunes, are playing a few shows in Fitzroy, Melbourne next week.
If you've never heard them, you may want to check out the samples available at that link there before heading off to the Birmingham on Saturday. Just sayin'.