A Very Voodoo Christmas

Quite a few Saturday nights ago , Mum joined Matthew and I at the Step Inn for A Very Voodoo Christmas. The reason? Cactus Cadillac were playing their second gig, I had missed the last one as I was in Melbourne and Mum didn’t go. This gig though was very much a family affair with numerous friends and family of Cactus Cadillac along for the ride ๐Ÿ™‚

I like the Step Inn in theory, I like that they are booking a very wide range of shows from folk to dub to pyschobilly and everything in between. I have a love/hate relationship with the lights though. Sometimes they are excellent, sometimes they are good, other times they are crap and it changes drastically between bands on a night. Cactus Cadillac were the first band and they had dim blue lights on their faces but normal sunlight lights at waist level. For the other bands though it moved to just normal sunlight lights as the whole lighting which was focused at the very front of the edge of the stage which meant that most time band members were in the fall-off, whilst the instruments were in the full light. It was interesting. That is why most of these photos are just photos and nothing more. I would take red Zoo lights over patchy lights any day.

Cactus Cadillac.
Cactus Cadillac is fun. They are boys who have slept on our floor numerous times over. Whilst Carter may be my primary little brother, Tom and Yuki are round often enough as well that they are just part of the family. I enjoyed the set, it was by no means mind blowing it was only their 2nd gig and Carter was distracted by the cricket on the TV at the back of the room apart from that, they are doing what they enjoy ๐Ÿ˜€

Cactus Cadillac

The Dead Ringers.
I only saw a little bit of this set as I went over to Tounge and Groove at West End to see The Chocolate Strings (damm great music) with Clare as her farewell before she headed to Washington DC, where she will spend the next 9 weeks or so as an intern for Massachusetts Democrat Congressman, John Tierney. Jealous? yes. The Dead Ringers were a band that I found on myspace looking for local alt-country bands so I was surprised seeing them at a Bad Moon Show but they do have a fair bit of rockabilly elements in their alt-country.

The Dead Ringers

Foghorn Leghorn.
Some nights you just need some Ska to keep you going and Foghorn Leghorn are always there to provide. They have this absolute cracker of a songs about Emo kids and cheering them up, there is actions that go with it, it is pretty darn amusing.

Cry like an Emo, Foghorn Leghorn

The Bad Moon Company.
What do you if a few songs into the set the double bass gives up the ghost? You become a rockabilly covers band whilst people attempt to fix the double bass. You get it working, you go back to playing your own blend of rockabilly/pyschobilly. Then the double bass croaks it again, repeat steps from before. It croaks again. You play it to the best you can. Everyone goes home early because it just doesn’t want to work. That was quite sad as I was looking forward to a big night of Bad Moon Co goodness.

The Bad Moon CompanyThe Bad Moon CompanyThe Bad Moon CompanyThe Bad Moon CompanyThe Bad Moon Company

To see the rest of the images from the night go here – A Very Voodoo Christmas

Christmas Morning Tea

Morning Tea

Morning Tea on Christmas Day is always a sugar filled event; rum balls, apricot balls, vanilla rings, lebkuchen, loftkรƒยถkurs. Then a touch of savoury with pineapple dip and salmon dip.

It is also a time for all of Grandmum’s good china to come out. I think Grandmum would roll over in her proverbial grave if we used anything but the good china (proverbial because she was cremated). The glasses are one of the most treasured pieces in the good cupboard, my aunt brought them back from Venice many years ago, it does feel quite refined drinking lemonade out of those glasses ๐Ÿ˜€

Christmas Ornaments

2000 Christmas Shooting Star

I was given this star by my host family in Germany where I spend Christmas 2002. It well actually Germany in general gave me the Christmas ornament bug. I could quite easily decorate our entire tree with my ornaments. I received a very cute little star this year from the Oxfam shop and I plan on getting the 2007 Swarovski star in the next few days.

new computer

grevillea

I took this photo the other week in the garden as the 50mm 1.4 was begging to go out and play in the daylight instead of spending its time confined to dark concert venues. ๐Ÿ˜€

This post is coming at you from my new computer, that I built the other night. It is a dream, so fast and we haven’t even overclocked it yet. Lightroom is just buzzing along and I love it! Delay loading images, what is that?

The other great thing is the sound! I went from a motherboard with el cheapo onboard sound to a not motherboard with not so el cheapo sound and the very first thing I noticed when I hooked up my speakers was the sound, it was so clear and crisp!

We are in the middle of Christmas preparations at the moment. We are going to get the tree tomorrow.

a night at the Chelsea

Sunday night saw me jump on the Concord v2 for a special night at the Hotel Chelsea. Well not quite but close. Instead it went something like the following. My not so gallant steed for the night (The Pulsar) and I picked up Thor from her house before we headed into The Valley for some pre-show drinks/chatter/random events with Tom. After a name change issued to me on my behalf, it was into The Troubadoure for a night with a theme of the Hotel Chelsea. (side note, The Troubie stamp is pretty cool, if I got tattooed on my wrist, do you think they would give me free entry for life?) Tom Woodward was in town *for one night only!* and along with Ange Takats and Cameron Elliot they were putting on a show at The Troubie. Titled “a night at the Chelsea”, promising me a night of music by three artists inspired by the music scene at the Hotel Chelsea in the late 60’s. The promise was certainly delivered.

Chelsea poster

Ange Takats
I have been meaning to see Ange live for a couple of months now, the classic myspace syndrome, all these cool local acts and only so many days in a week. She was well worth the wait, as I was in for a treat. She opened the night by singing a song, just singing, no guitar, no backup, just her. Rather impressive. Throughout the night she by far spent the most time up on stage as at some point during the boys sets she provided some backup vocals. She has a tale/song about the curse of knitting for boyfriends who then leave with the knitted goods (the word on the street is that to stop this happening that you need to marry said boyfriend and then give knitted goods). That got a gold star in my book.

Ange Takats, a night at the Chelsea Ange Takats, a night at the Chelsea

Tom Woodward
Well there was that rather very interesting guitar tuning interlude. There were a handful of new songs. There was “my song” (publicly known as Reminding me of Your) played in the December 07 style rather than the August 07 style, which is a bpm increase of oh about 60% and a much edgier sound, very different and I don’t know which version I prefer. It was top shelf stuff, could it have been any less? (that answer is most definitely no). I can’t yet offer any soundbites/textbites for the new songs though. Other than that that there is a video clip for one of the new songs at the end of this post. Press that play button!

Tom Woodward, a night at the Chelsea Tom Woodward, a night at the Chelsea

Cameron Elliot
I didn’t get to *really* hear much of Cam’s set as I was chatting up the back. Which means that I can’t really offer any profound or non profound as the case often is about Cam’s music other to say that I did quite enjoy what I heard though and will be keeping track of him. Cam was the Tom Waits or perhaps the Leonard Cohen of the night, he was one of those two as Tom was the Bob Dylan and Ange was the Joan Baez/Joni Mitchell.

Cameron Elliot, a night at the Chelsea Cameron Elliot & Ange Takats, a night at the Chelsea

After the “solo” sets were over they got together for some good old fashioned supergroup fun. One of which was of course I shall be released and there was another really great tune they did which I can’t recall at the moment.
Hotel Chelsea 3

Then some time later the music ended. some time after that the night ended with this. Tom and Thor on the footpath. In the light of a streetlight.
Tom (and Thor)

I almost forgot, a Troubie shot ๐Ÿ˜€
Hotel Chelsea Crowd at The Troubadour

Lock Up Your Sons!

Last night I went to a concert. Correction it is now Friday so on Tuesday night I went to a concert.

It was called Lock up your Sons. It was a presentation of 4 guitar toting ladies, Georgia Potter, Deb Suckling, Jackie Marshall and Emma Louise. Each of the ladies were introduced by a man/boy who has had something to do with each of the ladies, that was a really nice touch. Each of these ladies had their stories to tell and each played with a special feeling about them. I have seen Georgia a few times so I knew that she would be good. I saw Jackie Marshall supporting Missy Higgins back in May and looking back now I don’t know why I have not been to see her again since then as she blew me to the wall, damm. I had no idea who Deb Suckling was till she was introduced and then I was blown away again, over the years of listening to the zed’s and reading the street press I have often heard about a local band called Brindle, turns out she is the singer from said band. The final member of this group of ladies was the youngest at just 15/16, her name is of course Emma Louise, she hails from Cairns, she won the 2007 Q Song Peoples Choice Award which tells you all you need to know and that is that this girl/lady is good.

To give you an idea of the night, here is the promo poster that was up round the place. Does it not sound like the most interesting night?
lock up your sons poster

Georgia Potter
Georgia Potter
Jackie Marshall
Jackie Marshall
Deb Suckling
Deb Suckling
Emma Louise
Emma Lousie