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'.

Double dose of special.

Now, I don't do festivals. Actually, that should probably be "I don't do festivals well." I get bored. I get cranky. Crowds annoy me. I wanna go and sit down somewhere quiet after a few hours. But I'm making an effort this weekend, for Boogie 3.

Look at that line up- apparently ECSR and Tony Joe White are closing the first night. That was enough to sell me on going, actually.
Although considering it's limited to 500 people, and is within walking distance of the nearest town if I really really want to get away for a while, I think I'll stick at it.
If I do decide to bail, though, I'll head straight into town for this:
Gimme Shelter ends it’s residency at the Exford Hotel on Saturday 11th April. We’ll be taking a long overdue break, giving ourselves time to focus on other projects and priorities. Gimme Shelter might be back further down the line in some shape or form, but there is also the distinct possibility that this might just be it...
It'll be a shame to see it go. No word on what this means for the same crews' Primitive nights- I assume they're over, too. Still, bearing in mind what some of the "other projects" mentioned are, this may turn out to be a good thing overall.

Lindt time again.

Regular readers may have picked up on the fact that for me, this time of year is all about the Lindt. Forget your resurrection, forget your hot cross buns (especially those peel-less travesties) and go for the chocolate. It doesn't have to be rabbit shaped, either- I'm going to give this a go:

Though you may want to take it easy- next week, it's time for tsoureki:

Sometimes it's OK to be a racist.

I like UV Race. I like them quite a lot. They have been busy of late- their debut album is due out soon, they got profiled in hipster rag Vice ( a publication I would never wish to appear in) and have a very busy weekend lined up.

On Saturday they are supporting the Late Arvo Sons on the first of their April Tote residency shows. Future supports for the Sons will be Flying Scissor Kicks on the 11th, Chinese Burns (18th) and Super Wild Horses on the fourth and final show on the 25th, by the way.


The Race are then part of the bill at the afore-mentioned Super Wild Horses own single launch, at the Lithuanian Club, along with the Twerps and Noah & the Arks, as well as "Eddy Current DJs", which I'm guessing is basically Mikey Young with some records- good ones.
They are also doing a private party gig later that night. Fuck these kids have stamina.

Friday conflict.

Hmmm, another tough call on Friday.
My old faves the Witch Hats are playing at the Old Bar, with Diamond Sea, Mother and Midnight Caller. No special occassion, apparently- just another night at the Old.


BUT just down the road at the Tote, Graveyard Train are launching their debut album, out now on Afterdark Records, with support from the Brothers Grimm & Sailors and Swine.

Trust me, the Old Bar and Afterdark folks won't mind too much which one you choose.

Followers.

How odd.
It's kinda flattering though. Feel free to sign up- I need the money. If I don't actually know you, it'd be nice to get an email or something first. Don't just show up. If you do, though, please bring a six pack and a copy of John Carpenter's "The Thing" on DVD to ensure a warm welcome, and give us something to talk about.
Note: those of you who are Twitter users will shortly have another option for keeping track of this nonsense.