Don't call it a festival, don't call it half-cocked.

But it's not just about the Tote here in Melbourne.
Look at this- the Birmingham's second birthday, a bunch of strange noisy Brisbane stuff at the Gertrude Contemporary Art Space under the "Psycho Subtropics" banner, and the Community Cup have all aligned.this week.
This means that there are thirty five bands playing, over two days, at three unrelated events, for a grand total of $5.00- which is what it will cost you to get into the Cup. With a game of football thrown in, too.
Here, I've put them in alphabetical order to make it easy for you, with a note of who's on where:

Abject Leader GCAS
Alex Cuffe GCAS
Baptism Of Uzi Birmy
Big Smoke Birmy
Chaos Kids Birmy
Chloe Cogle GCAS
Cured Pink GCAS
Danni Zuvela GCAS
Dead Farmers Birmy
Dick Diver Birmy
Dozers Birmy
Gerald Keaney GCAS
Greasers Birmy
Grizzly Jim Lawrie Band Birmy
In Tongues Birmy
Joel Stern GCAS
Keggin Birmy
Little Freddie & the Pops Community Cup
Madonna Birmy
Nick Barker & the Reptiles Community Cup
Ross Manning GCAS
Sarah Byrne GCAS
Scale Free Network GCAS
Scraps GCAS
Ship's Piano Birmy
Sky Needle GCAS
Swamplords GCAS
Teen Archer Birmy
The Black Hill Five Birmy
The Blackeyed Susans Community Cup
The Living End Community Cup
The Priory Dolls Birmy
The Stabs Birmy
This War Birmy
Wil Wagner & the Smith St. Orchestra Birmy

And here are the relevant artworks/handbills/scrawl for each one, too:



I've gotta say, things like this make combing the fine print of street press listings kinda redundant.

Art double.

Lauren Bamford and Karl Scullin are both pretty well known around town as photographers, appearing in and on media ranging from street press to album covers. It's good to see them together in a formal, themed exhibition, opening tonight (Wednesday 23 June) at the C3 Artspace :

The gallery is a bit hidden, being round the back and underneath the main building- come along and spot your friends.

I got in

before Bruce Milne handed over the door stamp to the new management:

So, yes, it was a good night. Pretty much everyone I expected/hoped to see there was there, the sightlines in the revamped bandroom are much better, and the beers were free. The new carpet and lack of stuff on the walls was the only noticeable difference, really.
I don't know if this is the official end of an era, or the official start of a new one. But it's the Tote, and it has bands on again.

Thanks to Carbie for the pic.

Super secret special show.

One of the "perks" of this blogging lark is that occassionally it gets you in the door to good stuff. That was the case this week- I've scored an invite to some kinda VIP/media preview of a new venue. So new it doesn't even have a name yet.
I can't tell (yet) how widely the invites were spread, but in any event, no one seems to be talking about it- which is odd considering the recent fuss made over the place in question.
For now, though, I'll just say that I won't be at home if anyone needs me on Thursday night.
More details to follow.

Adam D Mills.

Music journalist Adam D Mills died last week.
There is a very good tribute here, which was put together by Anwyn Crawford and Shaun Prescott. They were friends (and admirers) of Adam's, and it shows. It will tell you all you need to know about the way he affected people he knew and worked with.
I never met him- our contacts were confined to various electronic formats, including a recent massive email exchange that seems to have already entered Australian music folklore.
But it seems pretty clear to me, in these times of digital downloads, fragmented markets and increasing industry dependence on manufactured "stars", that we cannot afford to lose anyone with Adam's degree of passion and commitment.
The man sent himself broke, and stayed on the breadline far beyond any reasonable measure, in his determination to keep putting out the music he loved and wanted to be heard by others.

RIP ADM.