I had a break

Yes, I took a break for a week or so, but am back now.
Did I miss anything exciting?

Free beer! and music.

This would be worth going to on Saturday, just to see Lisa Miller and Dan Kelly while drinking some Red Hill beer, let alone to win free beer all day just for reading the poster.

new Sacred Cowboys LP- "Cold Harvest"

Due any day now...I recently got a rundown from Garry Gray, which reads in part:

Cold Harvest: 2007
Garry Gray (vocals, backing vocals, lyrics), Spencer P Jones (guitar, backing vocals), Penny Ikinger (guitars, backing vocals), Terry Doolan (guitars, organ, backing vocals), Mark Ferrie (bass), Nick Rischbieth (bass), Stephan Fidock (drums).

“'Cold Harvest' with all guitars blasting out of a crumbling sun… I got this narrative … urban uprising driven by dysfunctional dreamers…powerless onlookers. I always wanted us to do this as a guitar album…. The 'Sacred Cowboys' are back shooting horses”, says Gray and adds, “It's about time. The world is at high noon and there aint nothin’ better to do.”

I always loved "Trouble From Providence", still do in fact, and that screed of verbiage has sure whetted my appetite for this.

Is there a name for this?

This thing where you stick a bit of linking code on someone else's page, and it sends loads of people to your site?
Because I just did it to Clem Bastow of the Age, with a comment on her blog , and, like, dozens of people are coming here through the link. Feels rude- I don't even know the woman. Oh well. Thanks anyway, Clem.

Local and/or General

Ryan Egan will be doing the last instalment of his excellent "Local and/or General" show on RRR on Monday 19th March.
Like all RRR shows, it will be available as streaming audio from here. Well worth a listen- check out this random sample from his playlists:
Dead Frenchmen - if only we could disappear
The Specimens - parasite head
Vanden - the river
Love of Diagrams - single cable
City Riots - signs
New Estate - while you were talking
Airport City Shuffle - when simians attack
About as local as you can get. Will be interesting to see what they replace it with.

EDIT: I forget to mention the fact that Diamond Dave Butterworth, of the Double Agents, is winding up his RRR program, "Galactic Zoo" this week, too.

Fake. Shitty. (2)

So, what's a dreadlocked musical warrior with a social conscience meant to do to flog his dodgy new album? Get the kids to pre-order it, and give 'em a crappy bit of merch in return for an extra $5.00, and then cross your fingers for that all important first week chart placement. Hope they ain't made in some Taiwanese sweatshop.

The Greyhound (again)

Well, there have been 16 objections to the redevelopment lodged so far. Closing date to register is this Friday, 16 March if you feel inclined- you can do it via that link, in about 20 seconds.
The local paper carried a story this week wherein someone representing the new owners claimed that nothing would change, that the bar & bands would carry on as before. But when Neil Wedd says that he's been told that his Indie Initiative nights will be coming to an end after seven years, I believe him.
Final show list looks like this:

Friday 16 Mar
BRITISH INDIA, YOUNG LOVERS, NEVERELEVEN, SKYBOMBERS
8pm, $10

Friday 16 Mar
MOTHER
9pm, free

Saturday 17 Mar
THE BREADMAKERS, THE VIOLENT MOOD SWINGS
9pm, free

Sunday 18 Mar
THE PRAYERBABIES WITH THE SOUTH OF THE RIVER COMMUNITY GOSPEL CHOIR (40 voices)
Gospel, country, blues and world music spectacular
4.30pm, gold coin donation

Wednesday 21 Mar
Indie Initiative:
Quinn, Nyssa, Bradsworth, White Summer
8pm, free

Thursday 22 Mar
Nervous Wreck, The Ribbon Device, The Pass Outs
8pm, $6

Friday 23 Mar
THE FUCK FUCKS, HYBERNATORS (with THE BOX WARRIORS), BITTERSWEET KICKS, THE BANG BANG BANGS
8pm, $10

Saturday 24 Mar
THE EXOTICS
9pm, free

Sunday 25 Mar
ROSIE HADEN and THE SLIDEWINDERS
5.00pm, free

Wednesday 28 Mar
Indie Initiative:
The House Of Slunk, From The Ashes, Calling All Cars
8pm, free

Friday 30 Mar
SIXFTHICK, INTOXICA, WHISKEY PRIESTS, GUT, SCREWTOP DETONATORS
8pm, $15

Saturday 31 Mar - Our Last Show
P TEX, LARGE No 12s
9pm, free

What kind of phrase is this?

Been listening to the new Amy Winehouse CD, "Back To Black" a fair bit lately. It's great modern soul-y stuff, and "Rehab" is catchy as hell- you can hear that here on her myspace. But my fave is "Me & Mr. Jones", partly because, well I just like it, and partly because in the lyrics she coins the phrase "What kind of fuckery is this?". You can hear it here.
"What kind of fuckery is this?" Use it a lot, people- I have been.

Alice on the air.

Crappy radio network DMG is syndicating Alice Cooper every weeknight from 10.00 til midnight, on their Vega stations in Melbourne & Sydney. Worth a listen if you are up that late with nothing to do- he's a very funny guy. But then you knew that already.

The high life.

It's not all fun doing this, you know. Try this for a slice of life.
Got pissy drunk at a few bars last night, woke up at 5.00am on a hard iron bench in a train station waiting room- an early outbound freight was pulling 80 or so empty boxcars past, man it was loud.
I rolled over and noticed a pigeon picking bits of rice & stuff out of a puddle of vomit- oh yeah that was mine, it was on my shirt too. Shifted a bit to ease my sore back, then went back to sleep.
Got woken again just before 6.00, some prick who was opening up the ticket booth. "You can't sleep here", he said. "Well, it wasn't easy, but yes, I can, actually." I replied. Motherfucker called the cops...they told me to move on, even though I tried and tried to explain I'd missed my lift home, and was waiting for a train.
Went over the road & found a laundrette that was open, threw my shirt & tshirt in a quick wash and went back to sleep. The Vietnamese woman who runs the joint came in around 11.00, woke me up (yeah, that makes it three times in one morning) and would only let me use the drier for like 10 minutes. Shirt still damp, but put it on anyway.
I left, went looking for a beer and something to eat. Realised I had lost my mobile phone- no, wait, I lent it to someone last night. Hopped a tram & went to get it back, banged on the door too hard and had a big shouting match. End result- phone thrown, hit me & split my eyebrow. Fuck. Ouch. And now it doesn't work properly.
Took some of my rent money out of the ATM, went to a pub for lunch. Had a beer & a burger, stuck $10.00 in a poker machine, won $20.00, had more beers. Took more rent money out, had more beers. Went home.
Puked in the shower, went to sleep.

Oh yes.

Gaffstock 07

I love the idGAFF Bar, in Collingwood. It's one of the few places that can drag me across the river these days. Jo Jo & Chelle know how to look after their punters.
During March, they have Joel Silbersher (HOSS, God, Dark Horses, Tendrils) playing solo every Saturday for a very reasonable $5.00. And at the end of the month, they are putting on a three dayer called Gaffstock. Check out the line up announced so far:

All looks good to me.

A tough call.

Take a deep breath. There is a tough call to make for Friday night.
On the one hand, a reformed X are playing with the Killer Birds and Cold Harbour at the Greyhound. On the other, the SXSW-bound Beasts of Bourbon with the Double Agents and Legends of Motorsport at the Corner. Both headliners are legends, all the supports acts are good.
The Double Agents (who launch their new album in a couple of weeks) are on at 9.00, the Killer Birds (who are almost done mixing their new EP before a long run of shows) also kick off at 9.00. On the other side of the river. There is no way to do both. And this is without worrying about what else might be going on at the Tote, the Espy, the Prince, or anywhere else.
Whatcha gonna do, punk?

Death of a pub

Well, the planning application notices are now in for the Greyhound- they are going to mess around with the downstairs bar & bandroom, and install a sauna on the first floor. That will be a neat trick if they can manage it, the building is about a hundred years old- even a large bathtub would fall through the floor once it was full of water, let alone when a few blokes pile in too. Another sex-on-site place, just what the neighbourhood needs. You can object online via that link if you feel moved to do so.
I'll post the full line up for the final Hound shows soon. Interesting to see that the Pint On Punt is already putting it's best foot forward to fill the void. You can drop in and see Fred Negro in his native habitat:


The garage/kebab joint across the street from the Hound is being demolished already, and I forgot to buy a last dim sim for old times sake. Damn.

Nope.

Nothing else has struck me.
Although someone is giving out free tickets to the Bettie Page movie as I write this,
they aren't for this weekend.

This weekend.

Show of the week has gotta be the BellRays at the Spanish Club. I can't find confirmation of all the supports, but the Pink Fits are in there somewhere (as well as doing their own thing at the Espy on Saturday).
What else...ummm...a trip down the peninsula for me, but that won't interest anyone...nope...looks like it's the BellRays or nothing, I'm afraid. Oh, and maybe a game of pool. If I find anything else of interest I'll be sure to let you know, OK?
NEXT week is gonna be a killer, though.